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MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER 


0V 


THOMAS   ALLEN 

(A    REPRESENTATIVE    FROM    MISSOURI), 


DEUVKURD  IN  THE 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  AND  IN  THE  SENATE, 


FORTY-SEVENTH    CONGRESS,    FIRST    SESSION 


PUBLISHED  BY  ORDER  OF  CONGRESS. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT    PRINTING    OFFICE 

1884. 


1  AL 


AN  ACT  to  print  certain  eulogies  delivered  in  Congress  upon  the  late  Thomas  Allen. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  there  be  printed  of  the  eulogies  delivered 
in  Congress  upon  the  late  Thomas  Allen,  a  member  of  the  Forty-seventh  Con 
gress  from  the  State  of  Missouri,  twelve  thousand  copies  of  which  four  thou 
sand  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the  Senate  and  eight  thousand  for  the  use  of  the 
House  of  ^Representatives;  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  hereby  di 
rected  to  have  printed  a  portrait  of  said  Thomas  Allen  to  accompany  said 
eulogies ;  and  for  engraving  and  printing  said  portrait  the  sum  of  five  hun 
dred  dollars,  or  so  much  as  may  be  necessary,  is  hereby  appropriated  out  of 
any  money  in  the  Treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated. 

Approved,  April  10,  1884. 
2 


ADDRESSES 

ON  THE 

DEATH  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  HOUSE. 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 

Aprils,  1882. 

Mr.  FROST.  Mr.  Speaker,  the  sad  duty  devolves  upon  me  of  an 
nouncing  to  the  House  the  death  of  my  colleague,  Hon.  THOMAS 
ALLEN,  Representative  from  the  second  district  of  the  State  of  Mis 
souri.  I  offer  the  resolutions  which  I  send  to  the  desk,  and  ask  for 
their  adoption. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  House  lias  heard  with  sincere  regret  the  announcement 
of  the  death  of  Hon.  THOMAS  ALLEN,  late  a  Representative  from  the  State  of 
Missouri. 

Resolved  by  the  House  of  Representatives  (the  Senate  concurring),  That  a  special 
joint  committee  of  seven  Members  and  three  Senators  be  appointed  to  take 
order  for  superintending  the  funeral  and  to  escort  the  remains  of  the  deceased 
to  their  last  resting  place,  and  all  necessary  expenses  attending  the  execu 
tion  of  this  order  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  contingent  fund  of  the  House. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  of  the  House  communicate  the  foregoing  resolu 
tions  to  the  Senate. 

Resolved,  That,  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  this 
House  do  now  adjourn. 

The  question  being  taken  on  the  resolutions  they  were  unani 
mously  adopted  ;  and  accordingly  the  House  adjourned. 

3 


4  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

JUNE  7,  1882. 

Mr.  HATCH.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  submit  for  present  consideration 
the  resolution  I  send  to  the  desk. 
The  Clerk  read  as  follows  : 

Resolved,  That  the  special  order  for  Friday,  the  23d  of  June,  at  3  o'clock  p. 
m.,  be  the  presentation  of  suitable  resolutions  in  reference  to  the  death  of  the 
late  THOMAS  ALLEN,  a  Representative  from  the  State  of  Missouri,  with  such 
remarks  as  may  be  submitted  thereon. 

The  resolution  was  adopted. 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 

June  23,  1882. 

The  SPEAKER.  By  order  of  the  House,  this  day  at  3  o'clock 
was  fixed  for  the  submission  of  appropriate  resolutions  and  re 
marks  with  reference  to  the  death  of  Hon.  THOMAS  ALLEN,  late 
a  Representative  from  the  State  of  Missouri.  The  hour  desig 
nated  having  arrived,  the  Chair  recognizes  the  gentleman  from 
Missouri  [Mr.  HATCH]. 

Mr.  HATCH.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  move  the  adoption  of  the  resolu 
tions  which  I  send  to  the  desk. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  House  has  heard  with  profound  regret  and  deep  sorrow 
the  announcement  of  the  death  of  Hon.  THOMAS  ALLEN,  late  a  Representa 
tive  from  the  State  of  Missouri. 

Resolved,  That,  in  token  of  regard  for  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  the 
members  of  this  House  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning  for  thirty  days. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives  be  instructed  to 
communicate  these  resolutions  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased, 
the  House  do  now  adjourn. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 


Address  of  Mr.  HATCH,  of  Missouri. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  Hon.  THOMAS  ALLEN,  a  Representative  from 
the  State  of  Missouri,  died  in  the  city  of  Washington  on  the  8th 
day  of  April,  1882.  On  that  day  the  announcement  of  his  death 
was  made  to  the  House  and  a  committee  appointed,  consisting 
of  seven  Members  and  three  Senators,  to  escort  his  remains  to  the 
city  of  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  for  interment.  Hon.  J.  R.  Chalmers, 
of  Mississippi,  then  a  member  of  this  House,  was  appointed  by 
the  Speaker  as  one  of  that  committee.  Having  known  him  many 
years  and  being  an  admirer  of  Mr.  ALLEN,  he  had  prepared  some 
remarks  upon  his  life  and  character  which  he  had  expected  to 
deliver  upon  this  occasion.  When  it  was  decided  by  the  House 
that  he  was  not  a  member  of  this  Congress  he  left  his  manuscript 
with  me,  as  the  chairman  of  that  committee,  with  a  personal 
request  that  I  should  read  it  as  a  part  of  my  remarks  upon  this 
occasion,  which  I  now  proceed  to  do. 

REMARKS    PREPARED    BY    MR.    CHALMERS. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  The  committee  selected  by  you  under  the  order 
of  this  House  to  attend  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  our  deceased 
brother,  Hon.  THOMAS  ALLEN,  of  Missouri,  have  performed  that 
solemn  duty.  We  escorted  his  remains  to  his  native  town,  where 
they  were  temporarily  deposited  in  his  summer  mansion  built  on 
the  spot  where  once  stood  his  grandfather's  house,  in  which  he  was 
born.  The  funeral  services  were  performed  in  the  Congregational 
church  of  which  his  grandfather,  Thomas  Allen,  was  the  first 
pastor,  and  we  buried  him  beside  his  forefathers,  in  the  family  lot, 
in  the  cemetery  of  Pittsfield,  Mass.  This  is  one  of  the  most 
striking  of  the  New  England  towns.  Situated  on  the  Berkshire 
hills,  near  the  headwaters  of  the  Housatonic  River,  it  is  1,100 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  its  air  is  pure,  bracing,  and 
invigorating. 

There  are  no  rough  and  precipitous  mountains  around  it  sug- 


6  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

gestive  of  strong  and  uncultivated  men,  but  the  massive  hills  and 
Grey  lock  Mountain,  seen  from  a  distance  through  the  pure,  clear 
atmosphere,  are  suggestive  of  calm,  peaceful,  and  dignified  man 
hood.  There  are  no  mountain  torrents  to  break  the  silence  of  the 
surrounding  hills,  but  there  are  beautiful  and  pellucid  lakes  and 
clear,  bold  running  streams  that  set  the  wheels  of  machinery  in 
motion  and  send  up  a  mingled  hum  from  the  voices  of  nature  and 
art.  To  one  who  saw  it  thirty-three  years  ago  Pittsfield  presents 
the  appearance  of  great  improvement,  but  to  one  who  studies  its 
possibilities  for  the  future  it  seems  but  in  its  infancy,  with  vast 
undeveloped  resources  and  power  still  in  reserve.  It  is  a  historic 
town  and  filled  with  honorable  names  and  memories. 

The  Aliens,  the  Larneds,  the  Pomeroys,  and  the  Merrills  were 
honored  names  in  the  days  of  the  Revolution,  and  these  names  are 
preserved  with  honor  by  the  present  generation.  We  were  shown 
the  park  beneath  whose  branching  elms  the  citizen  soldiers  of  Pitts- 
field  assembled  to  march  forth  to  battle  in  1776,  in  1812,  and 
again  in  1861.  Here  stood  the  old  church  from  which  Thomas 
Allen,  the  fighting  parson,  led  his  congregation  to  the  battle  of  Ben- 
nington.  The  old  frame  building  is  gone,  and  in  its  place  stands 
a  massive  structure  of  native  granite  with  a  memorial  slab  in  com 
memoration  of  Thomas  Allen,  the  grandfather  of  our  colleague ; 
and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  park  stands  the  Berkshire  Athe- 
ueum,  a  princely  donation  to  the  town  from  our  deceased  friend, 
and  a  lasting  monument  to  his  culture,  his  taste,  his  liberality, 
and  his  ennobling  devotion  to  the  home  of  his  childhood. 

We  reached  Pittsfield  on  the  day  of  its  annual  town  meeting, 
and  nothing  could  more  clearly  indicate  the  character  of  its  in 
habitants  than  their  conduct  on  this  occasion.  No  man  could  be 
more  highly  esteemed  than  THOMAS  ALLEN  was  esteemed  by 
them.  They  showed  this  in  every  gesture,  word,  and  look. 
There  was  no  violent  demonstration  of  feeling  and  no  ostentatious 
parade,  but  there  was  manifest  appearance  of  deep  and  heartfelt 
manly  grief;  and  yet  the  town  meeting  was  not  adjourned.  It  is 
a  day  of  great  political  import  in  New  England — a  day  on  which 
the  entire  legislative  business  of  the  town  is  to  be  transacted  for 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.  7 

v 

the  next  year,  and  with  them  duty  conies  first.  Their  ancestors, 
who  followed  Thomas  Allen  to  the  battle  of  Bennington,  did  not 
fire  a  gun  until  they  had  knelt  on  the  battlefield  arid  listened  to  a 
fervid  prayer  from  their  earnest  leader,  and  their  descendants 
move  with  the  same  precision  and  order  to-day. 

The  town  meeting  is  democracy  in  its  simplest  form,  where  the 
people  assemble  in  the  town  hall  and  legislate  for  themselves  with 
out  the  intervention  of  representatives.  The  town  hall  has  been 
called  the  cradle  of  liberty,  and  it  was  recently  said  on  this  floor 
by  Mr.  Tillman,  of  South  Carolina,  that  if  our  liberties  are  ever 
overthrown  the  last  struggle  will  be  made  at  the  door  of  a  town 
hall  in  New  England.  It  was  amid  such  scenes  and  surrounded 
by  such  a  people  that  THOMAS  ALLEN,  the  late  member  of  Con 
gress  from  the  second  district  of  Missouri,  was  born  and  reared. 
If  birth-place  has  any  influence  over  the  destiny  of  man,  if  the 
scenes  of  childhood  mold  the  character  or  shape  the  course  of  ma- 
turer  years,  then  the  silent  grandeur  of  the  Berkshire  hills  im 
pressed  themselves  upon  the  life  and  character  of  the  modest,  digni 
fied,  and  intellectual  man  whose  loss  we  now  mourn. 

THOMAS  ALLEN  was  born  in  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  August  29, 
1813,  in  the  midst  of  our  second  war  with  Great  Britain,  in 
which  his  father  was  a  captain,  and  he  graduated  at  Union  College 
in  1832.  I  leave  to  others  the  details  of  his  remarkable  and  suc 
cessful  career  and  shall  only  call  attention  to  a  few  leading  features 
of  his  history.  With  a  good  education  and  only  $25  in  money,  at 
the  age  of  nineteen,  friendless  and  alone,  he  began  the  struggle  of 
life  in  the  great  metropolis  of  New  York ;  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine 
he  died,  leaving  an  estate  worth  fifteen  millions  in  money.  After 
five  years  of  hard  labor  and  close  economy  in  New  York,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-three  he  appeared  in  Washington  as  the  editor  of 
the  Madisonian,  through  the  columns  of  which  he  soon  wielded  a 
powerful  influence  in  political  affairs.  In  a  contest  for  Public 
Printer,  then  conferred  only  on  leading  political  writers,  he  was 
elected  over  such  distinguished  men  as  Gales  and  Seaton,  of  the 
National  Intelligencer,  and  Blair  and  Rives,  of  the  Globe. 

A  few  years  later  he  was  an  acknowledged  power  in  political 


8  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

circles,  consulted  about  the  formation  of  Mr.  Tyler's  Cabinet,  and 
the  editor  of  the  Administration  organ.  Such  rapid  and  brilliant 
success  might  have  addled  the  brains  of  a  less  self-poised  and  clear 
headed  man.  To  a  young  man  of  talent,  power,  and  ambition 
nothing  is  more  fascinating  and  seductive  than  political  life.  To 
speak  from  the  editorial  tripod  and  watch  the  effect  of  his  argu 
ments  upon  eager  and  increasing  readers,  and  see  his  sentiments 
quoted,  commended,  and  followed  by  the  multitude,  gives  pleasing 
and  peculiar  satisfaction. 

To  speak  from  the  hustings  and  see  the  crowd  swayed  by  his 
utterances,  to  hear  the  shouts  of  exultant  partisans,  to  feel  the 
inspiring  influence  of  that  mesmeric  sympathy  which  binds  the 
speaker  to  the  hearts  of  his  audience,  and  to  know  that  he  can 
arouse  the  feelings  and  play  upon  the  passions  and  prejudices  of 
his  hearers  as  the  artist  plays  upon  an  instrument  thoroughly  in 
time,  produces  a  delirium  of  delight,  which  unfits  the  orator  for 
the  more  quiet  work  of  business  life.  And  the  fame  of  Henry 
Clay,  the  old  man  eloquent,  upon  whose  words  listening  Senates 
hung,  has  made  a  seat  in  Congress  the  day-dream  of  every  ambi 
tious  youth  in  the  laud. 

Mr.  ALLEN  tasted  the  intoxicating  draught  of  political  life,  he 
received  the  plaudits  of  admiring  friends,  he  heard  the  prophetic 
praise  from  Andrew  Jackson,  and  obtained  the  entire  confidence 
of  a  President  in  power,  and  yet  the  cup  passed  from  him  without 
injury  and  without  regret.  In  1842,  when  the  administration  of 
his  friend,  Mr.  Tyler,  was  in  full  power,  he  retired  from  the  polit 
ical  arena  in  Washington,  and  removed  to  Saint  Louis,  Mo., 
where  he  married  a  lovely  and  wealthy  young  lady  and  thor 
oughly  identified  himself  with  the  growing  interests  of  his  adopted 
home*  Like  Prentiss  and  Quitman,  who  were  so  much  honored 
and  loved  in  Mississippi,  he  came  of  the  best  New  England  stock, 
which  was  broadened  and  liberalized  by  transplanting  in  South 
ern  soil. 

The  sudden  change  from  a  bare  competency  to  what  was  then 
great  wealth,  received  with  his  bride,  did  not  enervate  the  mind 
or  slacken  the  energies  of  Mr.  ALLEN,  but  he  made  it  tributary  to 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.  9 

an  active,  useful,  and  successful  business  career.  Tom  Ben  to  u,  the 
great  Missouri  Senator,  pointing  across  the  Rocky  Mountains  to 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  said:  "There  is  the  East."  TOM  ALLEN, 
catching  the  inspiration,  began  the  construction  of  the  first  of  that 
system  of  Pacific  railroads  which  has  since  become  the  great  high 
way  of  commerce  between  the  East  and  the  West.  Railroad  after 
railroad,  and  corporation  after  corporation,  grew  and  prospered 
under  his  successful  management,  until  war  came  to  check  the 
prosperity  of  his  adopted  State. 

When  peace  was  restored  he  once  more  entered  actively  into 
every  enterprise  calculated  to  increase  the  prosperity  of  Saint 
Louis,  and  to  him  more  than  any  other  one  man  is  due  the  liberal 
system  of  internal  improvements  adopted  by  the  legislature  of 
Missouri,  and  the  construction  of  the  Iron  Mountain  Railroad, 
which  opened  up  to  the  Saint  Louis  market  the  richest  mineral 
region  of  the  world.  But  in  the  midst  of  his  arduous  labors  he 
found  time  for  the  intellectual  enjoyment  of  literary  and  scientific 
studies  and  for  the  pleasing  duties  of  social  and  domestic  life.  A 
cultured  companion,  a  genial  friend,  an  affectionate  husband,  and 
a  devoted  father,  he  was  at  the  same  time  a  sound  lawyer,  a  strong 
political  thinker,  and  wonderful  in  business  success — not  wonder 
ful  in  the  rapidity  or  amount  of  his  accumulations,  for  there  are 
many  who  have  surpassed  him  in  both,  but  wonderful  for  the 
honesty  and  integrity  of  his  dealings  and  the  gradual  and  uniform 
success  of  his  operations.  While  others  have  amassed  greater 
fortunes  and  with  more  rapidity,  their  pathway  has  been  strewn 
with  the  wreck  of  thousands  upon  whose  ruined  fortunes  they 
rose. 

Mr.  ALLEN  was  formed  in  a  different  mold.  He  was  no  stock 
jobber,  no  speculator,  and  no  corporation  wrecker,  but  an  honest, 
straightforward  worker  in  the  regular  channels  of  business  life. 
His  fortune,  though  large,  was  the  result  of  regular  and  legitimate 
profit  in  regular  and  legitimate  trade.  His  moral  character  was 
as  pure  as  the  air  of  his  childhood's  home;  his  principles  were  as 
firm  as  the  granite  in  his  native  hills ;  and  his  intellectual 
strength,  like  the  water-power  of  his  native  town,  seemed  to  rise 


10  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

equal  to  every  demand  upon  it  and  to  perform  its  work  with  an 
ease  that  indicated  immense  power  still  in  reserve. 

Whether  we  consider  him  toiling  in  New  York  as  attorney's 
clerk  on  a  salary  of  $300  a  year,  or  successfully  conducting  a 
leading  political  journal  in  Washington,  or  shaping  the  internal- 
improvement  system  of  Missouri  in  the  State  senate,  or  presiding 
over  great  corporations  and  turning  railroad  lines  to  the  Pacific 
and  the  Southwest,  or  dying  by  inches  under  a  painful  and  incur 
able  disease,  we  find  him  the  same  self-poised,  unostentatious  man, 
bearing  himself  with  dignity,  ability,  and  courage.  He  signalized 
his  love  of  ancestry  and  his  devotion  to  his  birth-place  by  pur 
chasing  his  grandfather's  farm  and  erecting  a  princely  mansion 
where  the  family  homestead  once  stood.  He  left  a  granite  monu 
ment  to  his  cultured  taste  and  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  educa 
tion  in  the  Berkshire  Atheneum,  erected  in  his  native  village  at  a 
cost  of  $50,000. 

He  left  a  monument  of  his  liberal  views  and  progressive  spirit 
in  the  new  fire-proof  Southern  Hotel  erected  in  his  adopted  city, 
Saint  Louis,  the  most  magnificent  and  best  appointed  hotel  in  the 
world.  And  in  commemoration  of  his  genius,  perception,  and 
business  success  he  has  left  a  name  to  be  forever  connected  with 
the  first  of  the  great  system  of  Pacific  railroads  and  indissolubly 
linked  with  the  wonderful  Iron  Mountain  of  Missouri.  In  poli 
tics  he  was,  like  his  grandfather,  a  thoroughgoing  Democrat,  and 
a  desire  to  do  his  whole  duty  to  his  party  impelled  him  at  great 
risk  to  be  present  at  the  organization  of  this  House ;  and  this  per 
haps  hastened  his  final  dissolution. 

But  the  seeds  of  a  fatal  disease  were  clearly  developed  in  his 
system  long  before  his  death,  and  he  knew  for  many  months  that 
he  must  surely  and  shortly  die.  His  heroic  fortitude  and  Christ 
ian  patience  under  his  long  and  painful  suffering  and  impending 
death  were  in  perfect  harmony  with  his  whole  character  and  life. 
A  short  time  before  his  death,  and  when  it  was  known  that  his 
end  was  near,  my  attention  was  attracted  by  the  statue  of  the 
dying  Napoleon  in  the  Corcoran  Art  Gallery.  The  cold  marble 
seemed  almost  to  breathe  the  anguish  of  the  dying  hero.  His 


LIFE  ANJ)  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.        11 

body  swollen  with  disease  and  his  face  pinched  and  shrunken  with 
pain,  tells  the  story  of  a  bursting  heart  which,  like  the  imprisoned 
eagle,  is  beating  itself  to  death  against  the  wires  of  its  cage.  It 
pictured  the  end  of  an  ambitious  and  dissatisfied  soul;  the  end  of 
a  man  who  knew  he  must  die,  and  yet  his  untamed  and  untamable 
spirit  speaks  in  tones  of  remonstrance  and  resistance,  and  demands 
one  more  chance  to  live  and  be  free. 

While  I  gazed  on  it,  I  could  but  think  of  our  patient,  suffering 
colleague,  who  was  dying  but  a  few  short  steps  away.  He,  too, 
knew  that  he  must  die,  and  he  was  meeting  death  with  the  same 
quiet  Christian  resignation  that  he  had  met  the  issues  of  life.  He 
was  not  unwilling  to  die,  and  yet  he  expressed  to  his  pastor  the 
desire  that  he  might  have  been  spared  a  few  years  more  to  do 
something  in  Congress  for  the  home  of  his  adoption.  He  was  full 
of  honors,  and  yet  his  spirit  felt  that  its  full  mission  had  not  been 
filled.  He  was  full  of  years,  and  yet  older  men  than  he  bore  his 
body  to  the  grave.  At  the  head  of  his  coffin  as  it  lay  in  the 
church  was  a  column  of  sweet-scented  flowers  representing  a 
broken  shaft.  The.  broken  shaft  is  usually  the  emblem  of  a 
young  life  cut  short  in  its  career.  This  could  not  be  said  of 
THOMAS  ALLEN,  and  yet  in  his  dying  moments  he  felt  that  he 
had  left  a  portion  of  his  work  unaccomplished. 

When  he  retired  from  the  political  arena  in  Washington  in 
1842,  the  hope  and  desire  that  he  might  some  day  return  as  a 
member  of  Congress  might  have  filled  his  imagination  as  it  did 
that  of  many  ambitious  young  men  before  him.  He  had  now 
gathered  wealth  to  the  fullness  of  his  desire.  He  had  retired 
from  active  business  labor  and  prepared  for  cultivated  enjoyment 
and  political  life,  but,  like  Moses  on  Mount  Pisgah,  he  was  only 
permitted  to  behold  the  Canaan  he  had  so  long  sought.  The 
overtaxed  physical  system  fell  beneath  the  strain  imposed  on  it  by 
a  too  vigorous  mind ;  the  engine  was  too  powerful  for  the  frame 
that  encased  it,  and  the  exhausted  body  perished  while  the  spirit 
was  yet  strong.  The  broken  shaft  of  sweet-scented  flowers  was  a 
fitting  emblem  of  a  life  which  breathed  only  the  fragbince  of 
purity  and.  a  death  that  cut  short  a  labor  of  usefulness  and  love. 


12  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

Iii  connection  with  the  remarks  that  I  had  proposed  to  submit 
on  this  solemn  occasion — solemn  to  every  member  of  the  Missouri 
delegation  particularly,  and  to  all  who  knew  Mr.  ALLEN  in  life — 
and  without  consuming  the  time  of  the  House  to  read  it  at  this 
time,  I  propose  to  print  the  able,  carefully-prepared,  and  truthful 
tribute  to  the  life  and  worth  of  THOMAS  ALLEN,  made  at  his  own 
home  upon  the  occasion  of  his  burial  by  his  pastor,  Rev.  J.  L. 
Jenkins. 

SERMON. 

"  Samuel  died ;  and  all  the  Israelites  were  gathered  together,  and  lamented  him,  and 
buried  him  in  his  house  at  Ramah." — 1  Samuel,  25,  1. 

Not  since  Moses,  who  died  four  hundred  years  before,  had  there  been  in 
Israel  so  great  a  man  as  Samuel.  In  troublesome  times  he  preserved  order, 
administered  justice.  He  consolidated  the  nation,  founded  schools,  served 
faithfully  and  wisely  for  thirty  years  in  high  positions.  He  died,  and  dying 
received  the  most  generous  appreciation  and  homage. 

The  means  by  which  these  were  expressed  are  mentioned.  I  dwell  for  a 
moment  upon  each  in  order : 

First.  "All  the  Israelites  were  gathered  together."  Says  Mr.  Stanley: 
"  We  are  told  with  a  peculiar  emphasis  of  expression  that  all  the  Israelites, 
not  one  portion  or  fragment  only,  as  might  have  been  expected  in  that  time 
of  division  and  confusion,  but  all  were  gathered  together  around  him  who 
had  been  the  benefactor  of  all."  A  time  had  come  when  men  of  all  sections 
and  factions  were  constrained  to  recognize  eminent  services  and  eminent 
ability  and  eminent  worth.  They  stopped  their  dissensions,  forgot  party 
allegiance,  put  by  local  prejudices,  personal  grievances.  Men  who  forced 
Samuel  from  office  and  men  who  would  keep  him  in  it  met  at  his  grave  and 
alike  honored  him.  It  was  a  generous  tribute,  this  gathering  of  all  the 
Israelites  at  the  burial  of  Samuel.  From  the  extremes  of  the  kingdom,  from 
its  chief  cities,  men  came  to  a  quiet  village  that  by  their  presence  they 
might  express  their  appreciation  of  the  labors  and  worth  of  the  man  who 
had  died. 

Second.  "  They  lamented  him."  Grief  soon  becomes  conventional.  There 
are  prescribed  ways  for  manifesting  it,  a  period  fixed  during  which  signs  of 
sorrow  are  exposed.  When  in  Europe  a  member  of  a  royal  family  dies,  other 
courts  go  into  mourning  for  a  specified  time.  Among  us,  I  believe,  there  arc 
rules  respecting  the  matter.  Black  is  to  be  worn  so  long,  displaced  so  grad 
ually.  We  early  find  traces  of  such  conventionalities.  Aaron  and  Moses 
were  mourned  for  thirty  days.  Of  Samuel  it  is  simply  said,  "They  lamented 
him."  The  plain,  unqualified  statement  testifies  to  the  genuineness  of  the 
sorrow;  a  sorrow  superior  to  ceremonies  and  demanding  its  own  free,  unre 
stricted  indulgence!  What  heartier  tribute  was  possible!  "They  lamented 
him." 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.  Ifl 

Third.  "They  buried  him  in  his  house  at  Raman."  In  his  house  means 
probably  in  the  court  or  garden  attached  to  his  house.  We  have  another 
•account  of  Samuel's  burial.  "All  Israel  had  lamented  him  and  buried  him 
in  Ramah,  even  in  his  own  city."  Evidently  the  great,  simple  man's  prefer 
ences  were  regarded.  Sorrow  for  him  was  tender,  as  it  was  genuine  and 
universal.  They  buried  him  in  his  own  house  at  Ramah,  his  own  city. 
There  were  more  famous  places ;  Gibeah,  the  royal  residence,  was  one. 
Saul,  who  was  fond  of  processions  and  display,  might  have  arranged  a 
splendid  funeral  pageant  and  brought  crowds  to  his  capital.  Daring,  impul 
sive  as  he  was,  he  could  not  violate  the  intrinsic  propriety  which  demanded 
the  burial  of  the  simple,  stern  prophet  in  the  village  where  he  was  born  and 
lived.  So  he  was  buried  in  Ramah,  his  own  city. 

This  Ramah  had  the  power  of  awakening  strong  local  attachments.  Its 
probable  site  was  a  hill-top,  now  easily  seen  from  Jerusalem,  looking  to  the 
northeast.  It  commanded  fine  views.  Its  people  were  intelligent  and  good, 
if  Samuel's  parents  represent  them.  Here  he  was  born  and  carefully  nur 
tured  by  his  wise  and  pious  mother.  Here  he  made  his  own  home  when  a 
man  ;  here  he  located  a  school  of  the  prophets;  "here,"  as  Matthew  Henry 
expresses  it,  "he  enjoyed  himself  and  his  God  in  his  advanced  years;"  and 
here,  in  the  place  he  had  served  and  made  illustrious,  he  was  buried. 

The  power  of  awakening  strong  local  attachment  long  continued  to 
Ramah.  A  thousand  years  after  Samuel's  death  the  little  village  is  made 
famous  again  by  a  worthy  citizen  who  could  not  be  tempted  from  it  by  all 
the  splendors  of  a  great  city  and  capital.  Joseph,  the  honorable  councilor, 
who  went  in  boldly  to  Pilate  and  begged  the  Lord's  body  and  fitly  buried  it, 
was  known  as  Joseph  of  Ariniathea,  another  name  for  Ramah,  a  resident,  if 
not  a  native,  of  the  place  where  Samuel  was  born  and  lived  and  was  buried. 

To  be  lamented  as  Samuel  was  by  all  his  countrymen,  to  be  mourned  for  a 
very  great  number  of  days,  to  be  peacefully  buried  in  his  own  quiet  and 
loved  village,  were  there  not  here  ample  compensations  for  years  of  industry 
and  public  service.  Not  till  men  are  gone  are  they  known.  Under  such 
condition  do  we  live.  Our  lives  here  are  such  that  what  is  best  is  seldom 
most  conspicuous.  Here  influences  that  warp  and  distort  judgments  are 
many  and  strong.  Here  occasions  for  misunderstandings,  for  conflict,  for 
alienations,  are  so  frequent  that  perfect  concord  is  impossible.  Wise  men  do 
not  expect  it.  What  is  possible,  what  may  be  reasonably  expected,  is  that 
when  a  man  dies,  then  his  fellows  will  be  quick  to  see  and  confess  his  worth 
and  the  worth  of  his  services.  If,  under  the  great  illumination  which  death 
diffuses,  men  remain  blind  and  refuse  to  see  the  excellencies  made  apparent, 
we  are  forced  to  recognize  the  presence  and  power  of  inveterate  prejudice  or 
wicked  hate.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  when  men  die  and  in  their  ascension 
lose  the  disfigurements  and  imperfections  belonging  to  the  earthly  life,  and 
they  who  are  spectators  exult  in  the  new  clear  revelations  of  truth  and 
beauty,  and  long  to  abide  under  them  evermore,  what  worthier  tribute  to 
the  dead  can  there  be,  and  what  conduct  worthier  of  the  living? 

We  often  hear  the  homage  paid  the  dead  disparaged,  undervalued.     It  is 


14  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

called  cheap,  and  a  poor  substitute  for  the  just  treatment  of  the  living.  To 
me  it  seems  very  precious.  Very  precious,  for  the  act  embodies  the  best  sen 
timents  and  wisest  judgments  of  men.  Men  see  clearly  and  feel  rightly  at 
the  grave  as  nowhere  else.  Here  clouds  and  mists  rise  and  disappear,  preju 
dices  are  carried  off,  all  the  spiritual  forces  are  at  liberty  to  act  freely,  with 
out  hinderance.  Hence  the  real,  substantial  worth  of  the  homage  paid  the 
dead.  Men  do  nothing  of  finer  quality.  Estimates  made  at  the  grave  par 
take  of  the  clemency  and  justice  of  Heaven.  It  was  not  cheap  and  meaning 
less,  this  gathering  of  all  the  Israelites  at  Ramah,  the  mourning  for  Samuel 
for  a  very  great  number  of  days,  and  his  quiet  burial  in  his  own  city.  The 
whole  world  held  then  nothing  of  greater  value.  Here  were  love,  gratitude, 
veneration.  No  costlier  offerings  could  be.  There  was  almost  infinite  worth 
in  them.  So  when  any  grave  friends  and  acquaintances  gather,  when  men 
come  from  afar  to  be  present,  when  every  available  means  is  used  for 
expressing  affection,  respect,  the  homage  is  not  cheap  and  meaningless.  It- 
is  precious  and  significant. 

That  burial  in  Ramah  three  thousand  years  ago,  when  friends  and  fellow- 
citizens  gathered  and  lamented  and  buried  a  faithful,  good  man,  has  had 
innumerable  repetitions,  is  being  repeated  now  and  here. 

THOMAS  ALLEN  was  born  in  this  town  August  29,  1613,  in  a  house  stand 
ing  on  the  site  where,  in  1858,  he  built  the  one  from  which  we  have  just 
brought  his  body.  His  father  was  Jonathan  Allen.  He  was  named  for  his 
grandfather,  Thomas  Allen,  the  first  pastor  of  this  church.  His  mother  was 
Eunice  Williams  Lamed,  granddaughter  of  Colonel  Israel  Williams,  of  Hat- 
field.  So  that  it  has  been  said  Mr.  ALLEN  "  derived  his  descent  on  one  side 
from  one  of  the  Revolutionary  whigs  most  noted  for  his  uncompromising  zeal, 
and  on  the  other  from  one  of  the  staunchest  American  adherents  to  the 
British  Crown."  His  ancestry  was  not  a  weak  one.  The  chances  were  there 
would  be  in  him  a  double  portion  of  strength.  It  is  man's  first  and  most 
lasting  advantage  to  be  well  born ;  to  inherit  a  good  body,  full  of  vitality,  a 
sound  mind,  firm  will,  a  controlling  moral  sense.  There  was  once  in  New 
England  a  generation  able  to  transmit  these  valuable  legacies.  It  could  not 
give  children  great  riches,  great  honors ;  it  could  and  did  give  what  was  of 
greater  worth — health,  intellect,  determination,  conscience.  Into  a  large 
inheritance  of  these  Mr.  ALLEN  was  born.  His  education  began  formally  in 
the  schools  of  this  town,  in  which  he  continued  till  he  entered  Union  College 
in  1829. 

His  purposed  destination  was  the  law.  In  1835  he  was  admitted  to  the 
New  York  bar.  His  career  was  not  to  be  that  of  a  lawyer.  He  began  early 
to  write ;  wrote  so  much  that  it  was  said  of  him  at  twenty-one  that  no 
young  man  in  the  country  of  his  age  had  written  so  much.  His  vocation 
seemed  found  ;  he  was  to  be  an  editor.  It  proved  not  to  be  his  calling. 

He  betrayed  early  a  taste  for  politics.  His  mind  was  suited  to  grave  pub 
lic  questions  ;  he  had  the  power  to  influence  by  strong,  persuasive  speech. 
But  his  life-work  was  not  to  be  that  of  the  mere  partisan  politician.  After 
various  essays  in  different  directions  he  was  guided  to  his  assigned  task. 


LJFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.  15 

Devout  believers  iu  God  find  marks  of  His  wisdom  in  the  orderly  migrations 
of  birds  and  beasts ;  devout  students  of  history  see  Goa  in  emigrations,  in 
colonizations,  in  the  grand  movements  by  which  the  world's  population  is 
transferred  from  one  scene  of  effort  to  another.  This  large  faith  bears  reduc 
tion  and  individualizatiou.  The  steps  of  a  man  are  ordered  by  God.  There 
are  always  foreordinations  requiring  the  birth  to  be  in  the  proper  Bethle 
hem,  the  preparatory  life  in  Na/areth,  the  years  of  active  service  in  busy, 
growing  Capernaum.  Men  do  not  determine  their  own  careers;  they  fulfill 
them.  We  are  all  God-led  as  truly  as  were  the  Israelites.  What  I  am  assert 
ing  was  true  of  Mr.  ALLEN.  There  were  years  of  uncertainty,  of  attempts,  of 
experiments.  He  was  feeling  after  the  track  he  was  to  pursue  through  the 
wilderness  of  this  world ;  he  was  seeking  after  the  work  given  him  to  do. 
His  seeking  was  in  time  rewarded. 

The  workman  and  the  work  came  together.  The  work  was  a  great  work. 
We  all  learn  early  the  famous  saying  of  Lord  Bacon,  to  the  effect  that  the 
most  heroical  of  works  is  the  founding  of  a  colony.  He  is  called  to  grand 
tasks  who  has  to  do  with  shaping  the  destiny  of  a  great  state.  A  first 
necessity  is  its  enrichment  by  the  discovery  and  use  of  its  own  resources  by 
the  easy  introduction  of  needed  supplies  from  without.  Changes  have  come 
over  the  world.  Forts,  defenses,  are  not  a  primal  need.  Populations  are 
not  now  to  be  kept  out  of  given  territories ;  they  are  to  be  tempted  into 
them.  It  is  high  service  those  do  who  cast  up  highways  in  the  wilderness; 
who  redeem  the  fruitful  earth  from  barrenness;  who  expose  the  treasures  of 
its  mines;  who,  in  the  biblical  sense  of  the  word,  "subdue  the  earth." 
These  are  your  true  conquerors.  They  couie  up  out  of  Edonis,  their  gar 
ments  not  rolled  in  blood  but  fragrant  with  the  odors  of  field  and  vineyard ; 
they  mark  their  progress  not  by  ruin  and  desolation,  but  by  the  waste  places 
they  build.  The  psean  chanted  over  their  conquests  is  without  wail  or  sigh, 
is  the  merry  shout  of  harvesters,  the  undisturbed  laughter  of  children  in  vil 
lage  streets. 

A  new  type  of  heroes  is  appearing.  The  old  traditional  type  is  becoming 
extinct.  The  man,  sure  of  honor,  is  the  explorer,  the  inventor,  the  discov 
erer,  who  enriches  human  life  and  adds  to  the  well-being  of  mankind;  who 
makes  states  strong  not  in  fortresses  but  in  the  resources  supporting  great 
populations  and  in  the  means  whereby  great  populations  are  made  intelli 
gent,  virtuous,  pious.  He  is  called  to  a  supreme  work  who  has  to  do  with 
shaping  the  destiny  of  a  great  commonwealth.  That  is  a  heroical  work 
whose  end  is  public  enrichment  and  strengthening  of  a  state.  Men  do  not 
blunder  upon  such  works.  God  girds  men  for  them.  It  was  so  with  Mr. 
ALLEN.  He  was  raised  up  for  a  work  and  so  found  it.  He  was  led  from  this 
his  native  village,  with  many  wanderings,  half  across  the  continent  to  a 
spot  predestined  to  be  the  seat  of  empire,  early  christened  with  a  most  sover 
eign  name.  He  saw  possibilities  others  saw  not,  and  so  was  a  prophet.  He 
had  the  voice  of  a  prophet,  and  aroused  the  people.  He  had  the  compelling 
force  of  a  prophet,  and  his  bidding  was  more  or  less  heeded.  Thus,  under  a 
divine  guidance  and  because  of  a  divine  endowment,  did  Mr.  ALLEN  find  the 


1  6  LTFK  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

great,  grand  work  of  his  life.  It  might  be  that  a  man  should  be  led  to  his 
assigned  work  and  be  unconscious  of  the  leading.  He  might  think  the  work 
a  discovery  of  his  own,  or  lie  might  think  nothing  of  it.  Neither  was  possi 
ble  to  Mr.  ALLEN.  He  had  what  men  of  his  class  commonly  have,  faith  in 
God.  It  is  not  the  unbeliever  that,  Abraham-like,  leaves  country  and  home 
and  friends  for  an  unknown  land.  Faith  has  wrought  civilizations,  and  only 
faith.  The  world's  best  workers  haye  been  and  must  be  believers.  Mr. 
ALLEN  was  a  believer  in  God,  "I  know  not,"  he  said,  "  how  is  it  with 
other  men,  but  I  have  been  a  man  of  prayer  all  my  life.  I  have  always 
before  important  decisions  sought  guidance  from  God."  He  believed  the 
ordering  of  his  steps  was  with  God. 

His  aims  were  to  make  his  labors  promotive  of  divine  ends.  I  am  not 
claiming  that  he  did  not  seek  his  own  profit  in  what  he  did ;  I  am  not  sup 
posing  that  Mr.  ALLEN  was  devoted  to  the  special  service  of  God  as  the  early 
Jesuit  preachers  and  missionaries  were.  I  am,  however,  very  certain  that 
it  was  his  aim  to  promote  on  the  earth  the  kingdom  of  God.  For  this  phrase 
is  a  large  one;  the  devoted  Jesuit  did  not  understand  it  fully;  perhaps  not 
so  well  as  the  energetic,  far-seeing  man  of  business.  That  which  is  natural 
is  first.  A  state  must  have  a  material  basis;  good  society  must  have  physi 
cal  resources.  It  is  a  divine  work  to  find  and  supply  these.  Manna  no 
longer  falls  from  heaven.  Ravens  no  longer  bring  food.  The  kingdom  of 
God  may  not  be  meat  and  drink,  but  it  would  soon,  so  far  as  the  earth  is 
concerned,  come  to  an  end  without  them.  Mr.  ALLEN  did  not  confine  his 
efforts  to  merely  material  results.  By  an  early  and  always  indulged  impulse 
he  was  a  man  of  varied  and  pronounced  scholarly  tastes.  He  was,  as  has 
been  said,  an  effective  writer.  It  is  possible  to  make  a  valuable  volume  of 
the  papers  prepared  by  him  on  different  subjects.  He  was  interested  in  and 
promoted  the  sciences.  He  was  the  wise  patron  of  education.  His  wisdom, 
his  insight,  are  conspicuous  in  his  gift  to  his  native  town.  He  could  do 
nothing  better  for  it  than  encourage  the  habit  of  good  reading  among  its 
people.  The  beautiful  building  whose  doorway  is  fittingly  draped  in  mourn 
ing  to-day  will  not  only  perpetuate  here  the  memory  of  his  name  but  will  be 
a  testimony  to  his  wisdom. 

I  have  not  intended  any  studied  analysis  of  Mr.  ALLEN'S  character.  I 
think  the  hasty  sketch  given  reveals  him.  He  was  well  born ;  had  found  a 
work — a  work  that  could  be  done  only  by  a  man  rarely  gifted.  He  did  his 
work  well.  He  did  a  great  work  well.  There  were  once  princes  in  Europe 
ruling  a  smaller  territory  than  Mr.  ALLEN  managed,  a  smaller  number  of 
subjects  than  he  had  men  under  him,  handling  no  such  sums  of  money  as  he 
handled.  This  great  work  he  did,  and  did  well.  And  it  is  measure  and 
indication  of  the  rare  powers  in  him.  Besides  these  great  executive  abilities 
he  had  other  rare  gifts.  Not  every  great  worker  is  a  scholar.  Mr.  ALLEN 
was.  Not  every  great  worker  is  a  man  of  large  heart.  Mr.  ALLEN  was.  He 
had  two  homes.  He  did  the  impossible;  he  served  two  masters.  We  know 
he  loved  Pittsfield.  He  came  back  when  able  and  bought  his  birth-place, 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.  17 

built  here  for  himself  a  home,  delighted  to  come  to  it.  And  here  he  was 
interested  in  our  local  affairs.  Would  have  our  burial  place  beautified. 
Among  his  last  gifts  was  one  toward  the  improvement  of  the  interior  of  this 
chnrch.  He  atteuded  the  meetings  of  the  county  historical  society,  pre 
pared  and  read  papers  before  it.  Was  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  of 
the  Athenemn.  And  here  he  is  brought  for  burial  that  he  might  rest  with 
his  forefathers.  Pittsfield  did  not  engross  all  Mr.  ALLEN'S  affection,  inter 
est.  He  loved  the  city  which  was  his  home,  and  whose  prosperity  he  so 
wisely  and  successfully  promoted.  Here  he  was  loved,  respected.  It  did  not 
seem  to  us  a  strange  thing  when  his  fellow-citizens  elected  him  member  of 
Congress.  I  think  we  all  rejoiced  in  their  act.  Not  only  that  it  honored 
one  of  us.  but  because  it  was  an  honor  most  worthily  bestowed.  Here,  where 
he  was  known,  where  the  discipline  of  his  life  was  known;  here,  where  his 
firm  devotion  to  the  Union  was  known,  here  it  was  felt  that  a  new  and 
strong  man  was  putting  his  hand  upon  the  National  Government,  and  that 
therefore  it  would  be  the  more  stable.  To  his  adopted  home  Mr.  ALLEN  was 
as  loyal  as  to  his  birth-place.  "I  would  like,"  he  said  in  his  last  sickness, 
"to  live  a  few  years  longer.  There  are  some  things  I  would  like  to  do  for 
Missouri."  He  died  in  her  service.  In  her  loss  we  share.  Our  hope  for  her 
is  that  other  men,  as  able,  as  good,  may  be  found  to  serve  her,  and  lead  her 
on  to  greater  and  greater  prosperity. 

There  was  in  Mr.  ALLEN  a  strong  moral  sense.  He  had  that  which  has 
been  in  the  past  rather  characteristic  of  New  England.  We  have  not  always 
excelled  in  fine  manners,  in  many  elegancies,  but  we  have  had  a  robust  sense 
of  what  was  right  and  wrong.  Hence  reforms  have  so  easily  gotten  and 
kept  a  foothold  here.  We  are  growing  practical,  are  being  practical  in  mat 
ters  of  expediency,  and  yet  we  believe  wrong  is  wrong  and  right  is  right, 
that  they  are  contrary  one  to  the  other,  as  far  apart,  as  irreconcilable  as 
light  and  darkness,  heaven  and  hell.  This  New  England  conscientiousness 
was  in  Mr.  ALLEN.  He  discriminated.  He  felt  the  imperative  claim  of  the 
right.  He  revolted  from  the  wrong.  At  the  base  of  his  character  was  this 
firm  rock.  Allied  to  his  moral  sensitiveness  was  Mr.  ALLEN'S  faith  in  God. 
He  had  this,  not  as  an  inheritance,  but  as  a  conviction,  and  not  as  a  useless 
conviction.  God  was  an  intelligent  person  to  him,  a  being  from  whom  direc 
tion  could  be  received,  to  whom  service  was  due.  Mr.  ALLEN  believed  in 
immortality.  He  may  well  have  believed  in  it.  He  could  not  easily  con 
clude  that  a  force  which  had  been  what  his  personal  will  and  energy  had 
been  should  suddenly  cease.  He  never  supposed  it  would.  In  the  long  sick 
ness  which  he  suffered  from  his  mind  was  naturally  much  engaged  with  the 
supreme  problems  of  life  and  death.  He  was  able  to  think  calmly  and  pro 
tractedly.  His  thoughts  were  high.  He  had,  he  said,  during  his  illness, 
revelations.  Yes,  revelations  of  God,  and  in  many  ways.  Evidently  God 
was  in  his  thoughts  much.  So  in  those  weeks,  months,  of  pain,  of  confine 
ment,  as  he  was  drawing  nearer  to  God,  God  drew  near  to  him.  And  at  last 
he  was  not,  for  God  had  taken  him. 
2  AL 


18  LIFE  4ND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 


Address  of  Mr.  ROBINSON,  of  Massachusetts. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  Very  few  of  all  the  members  of  this  House 
who  on  the  last  Easter  Sunday  assembled  to  pay  their  last  tribute 
of  respect  over  the  mortal  remains  of  THOMAS  ALLEN  were  able 
to  recall  his  presence  as  that  of  one  of  their  associates  on  this 
floor.  The  opening  of  the  present  session  found  him  stricken 
with  an  incurable  disease,  and  weakness  and  pain  prevented  him 
from  participation,  except  for  a  day  or  two,  in  the  important  work 
to  which  he  had  been  called  by  his  constituents. 

But,  sir,  when  the  committee,  acting  under  your  appointment, 
bore  his  body  to  the  State  that  gave  him  birth,  to  the  town  where 
for  so  many  years  he  had  been  an  honored  and  distinguished  citi 
zen,  they  were  received  by  the  companions  of  his  boyhood  and 
the  associates  of  his  mature  age,  gathering  to  testify  their  high 
regard  for  his  upright  life  and  to  tenderly  commit  his  remains  to 
the  soil  of  which  he  was  the  offspring. 

From  his  simple  home  on  the  Berkshire  hills,  in  the  old  Com 
monwealth  of  Massachusetts,  he  had  gone  forth,  obedient  to  the 
mission  of  duty's  call,  and  half-way  across  the  continent  had 
wrought  into  the  development  and  destiny  of  a  sister  State  his 
indomitable  energy,  his  generous  culture,  his  devoted  patriotism; 
and  now,  life's  toils  and  trials  ended,  the  sheaves  of  honor  and 
success  garnered  in,  he  was  buried  where  life  had  been  the  sweet- 

o  / 

est,  where  his  affection  had  most  fondly  lingered,  where  his  eyes 
and  his  thoughts  had  yearningly  turned  in  health  and  in  sick 
ness — his  most  coveted  resting-place.  Other  climes  and  other 
lands  he  had  enjoyed,  but  no  place  was  so  dear  to  him  as  his 
native  town  of  Pittsfield.  Home  again  !  He  sleeps  in  hallowed 
ground,  on  the  hill  side  so  precious  in  his  sight,  amid  scenes  that  „ 
gladdened  and  inspired  him  and  made  the  poet's  tribute  his  own  : 

Home  of  my  heart !  to  me  more  fair 

Than  gay  Versailles  or  Windsor's  halls ; 
The  painted,  shingly  town-house,  where 

The  freeman's  vote  for  freedom  falls  ; 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.  19 

The  simple  roof  where  prayer  is  made, 

Than  Gothic  groiii  and  colonnade ; 
The  living  temple  of  the  heart  of  man, 

Than  Rome's  sky-mocking  vault,  or  many-spired  Milan. 

Then  ask  not  why  to  these  bleak  hills 

I  cling,  as  clings  the  tufted  moss  ; 
To  bear  the  winter's  lingering  chills, 

The  mocking  spring's  perpetual  loss. 
I  dream  of  lauds  where  summer  smiles, 
And  soft  winds  blow  from  spicy  isles ; 
But  scarce  would  Ceylon's  breath  of  flowers  be  sweet, 
Could  I  not  feel  thy  soil,  New  England,  at  my  feet! 

Tracing  the  career  of  Mr.  ALLEN  from  his  birth,  August  29, 
1813,  to  his  death,  April  8,  1882,  one  finds  very  much  to  awaken 
admiration.  Born  of  a  lineage  that  had  for  several  generations 
nobly  illustrated  some  of  the  best  of  New  England  blood  and 
character,  he  entered  upon  the  work  of  his  life,  inspired  by  the 
great  examples  of  his  ancestry,  endowed  with  an  unyielding  energy, 
and  equipped  with  a  liberal  education  in  the  schools  and  colleges 
of  his  time.  Family  misfortunes  brought  pecuniary  disaster,  and 
he  was  suddenly  forced  to  confront  the  world  single-handed  and 
alone.  The  disappointment  was  to  him,  however,  but  temporary, 
and  the  sterling  qualities  of  his  mind  and  heart  immediately  dem 
onstrated  his  capacity  for  success.  Whether  in  his  chosen  profes 
sion  of  the  law,  or  in  literary  labor,  to  which  he  devoted  leisure 
moments  to  add  to  his  scanty  income,  hard  work  and  unfaltering 
application  were  not  distasteful  to  him,  and  he  thereby  made  pos 
sible  all  his  future  attainments. 

The  scanty  sum  of  a  few  dollars,  all  his  father  was  able  to  give 
him  as  he  set  out  on  his  journey  to  begin  life  for  himself  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  by  no  means  constituted  his  only  capital. 
Country  boy  though  he  was,  poor  in  this  world's  goods,  he  was 
richly  blessed  with  a  stout  heart,  a  well-ordered  intellect,  correct 
personal  habits,  staunch  integrity,  and  the  fear  of  God.  Had  the 
circumstances  of  his  early  manhood  been  more  favorable,  as  is  the 
common  estimation,  the  better  qualities  in  him  might  have  never 


20  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

asserted  themselves,,  and  his  life  might  have  drifted  away  into  the 
too  common  monotony  of  purposeless  and  fruitless  existence. 

Lord  of  himself,  though  not  of  lands, 
And  having  nothing,  yet  had  all. 

In  1837  Mr.  ALLEN,  then  hut  twenty-three  years  old,  entered 
into  the  broad  Held  of  journalism  in  the  face  of  obstacles  that  would 
have  disheartened  a  man  of  feebler  mold.  The  business  and  finan 
cial  interests  of  the  country  were  then  in  an  alarming  state  of 
disorder;  distress  was  threatening  at  all  points;  the  very  air  was 
tilled  with  prophecies  of  evil ;  the  Federal  Government  was  openlv 
declared  to  be  the  cause  of  the  impending  ruin  ;  and  men  were  not 
wanting  even  in  public  stations  who  directly  advised  resistance  to 
the  constituted  authorities.  The  time  demanded  fearless  and  patri 
otic  discussion  of  the  important  questions  at  issue,  and  the  word 
of  the  press  might  be  potent  to  save  or  to  destroy  the  Government. 
In  the  first  number  of  the  Madisonian,  which  was  published  in 
Washington  in  August,  1837,  Mr.  ALLEN  paid  just  tribute  to  Mr. 
Madison's  great  abilities,  his  disinterested  devotion  to  the  country's 
welfare,  and  his  purity  of  life,  and  declared  that  "under  the  tute 
lary  auspices  of  his  great  name,  and  by  the  steady  light  of  the 
principles  and  virtues  which  consecrate  and  endear  it,  we  shall  en 
deavor  to  steer  our  course  over  the  stormy  ocean  upon  which  we 
have  entered,  in  the  humble  hope  of  rendering  some  service  to  our 
country  at  a  period  of  difficulty  and  danger  which  demands  the 
best  exertions  of  all  her  sons."  In  the  sharp  contests  which  fol 
lowed,  in  the  press  and  in  the  public  assembly,  Mr.  ALLEN'S  pen 
and  voice  every  where  gave  proof  of  his  power  and  patriotism,  and, 
despite  the  jealousy  of  formidable  rivals,  he  fought  his  way  to  un 
doubted  recognition  in  the  political  councils  of  the  nation. 

During  the  last  forty  years  of  his  life  Mr.  ALLEN  inaugurated 
and  completed  vast  works  of  internal  improvement  in  the  States  of 
Missouri  and  Arkansas,  and  successfully  managed  gigantic  enter 
prises  that  startle  us  into  wonder  at  their  extent  and  importance. 
The  result  of  his  business  sagacity,  his  intelligence,  and  his  uncon- 


LIFK  AND  CHARACTER  O/-'  T  HO  MAX  ALL  UN.  21 

querable  will  are  to  be  plainly  traced  in  the  magnificent  develop 
ments  of  his  adopted  State.  Meantime,  though  engrossed  with  the 
responsibility  of  great  public  works  and  the-  management  of  vast 
financial  concerns,  he  never  omitted  an  occasion  to  manifest  his  deep 
interest  in  science,  literature,  and  the  arts.  To  his  munificence 
Washington  University,  in  Saint  Louis,  is  indebted  for  the  endow 
ment  of  a  professorship  of  mines 'and  metallurgy.  Public  addresses 
and  contributions  to  the  journals  of  the  time  have  established  his 
high  rank  in  scholarly  taste  and  in  philosophical  and  literary  ac 
quirements.  He  loved  work  of  all  kinds,  and  had  a  wonderful 
aptness  for  it;  and  so  his  life  was  many-sided,  varied  in  its  devel 
opment,  and  widely  beneficent  in  its  great  accomplishments. 

From  the  great  fortune  which  he  amassed  he  made  liberal  dona 
tions  in  aid  of  public  enterprises  in  Pittsfield.  He  contributed 
generously  toward  the  establishment  of  a  public  library,  and  prin 
cipally  through  his  exertions«a  charter  was  obtained  for  the  Berk 
shire  Atheneuin,  "for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  in  the  town  of 
Pittsfield  an  institution  to  aid  in  promoting  education,  culture,  and 
refinement,  and  diffusing  knowledge  by  means  of  a  library,  reading 
rooms,  lectures,  museums,  cabinets  of  art,  and  historical  and  natu 
ral  curiosities."  A  beautiful  gothic  building,  constructed  with  a 
union  of  Berkshire  limestone  and  Missouri  granite,  stands  across 
the  square  from  his  late  summer  residence,  his  free  gift  to  the  town, 
and  dedicated  as  a  free  library  for  the  use  of  the  inhabitants.  No 
marble  or  bronze  above  his  grave  can  be  so  fitting  a  monument  to 
his  memory  as  this  edifice,  rich  in  its  associations  and  beauty- 
grander  than  any  mausoleum  of  olden  time,  typical  of  Christian 
civilization — the  portal  for  coming  generations  to  enter  into  a 
broader  culture  and  a  higher  appreciation  of  the  best,  the  most 
beautiful,  and  the  purest  treasures  of  human  lite. 

Always  the  patriot  more  than  the  partisan,  Mr.  ALLEX  never 
faltered  in  his  devotion  to  his  country's  highest  welfare.  Disloy 
alty  met  with  no  toleration  from  him.  When  the  gathering  storm 
of  rebellion  was  imminent  above  the  horizon,  out  of  his  own  priv 
ate  means  he  equipped  a  company  for  the  nation's  defense,  and  in 


22  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

all  the  bitter  struggles  of  the  war,  whether  he  were  in  Massachu 
setts  or  Missouri,  he  was  ever  the  pronounced  and  uncompromising 
friend  of  the  national  Union,  and  conspicuous  for  his  charities  in 
behalf  of  the  righteous  cause.  The  traditions  of  the  Revolution 
were  household  words  to  him,  and  liberty  and  loyalty  were  as 
sacredly  cherished  in  his  heart  as  they  had  been  so  heroically  ex 
emplified  and  enforced  in  the  lives  and  teachings  of  his  honored 
ancestry. 

He  was  a  true  man,  a  liberal  benefactor,  a  safe  and  wise  coun 
selor,  a  cultured  gentleman,  a  consistent  Christian. 

The  youth  of  our  time  may  well  emulate  him  in  the  develop 
ment  of  the  highest  and  the  best  in  American  life  and  character. 
The  country  has  suffered  great  loss  in  that  his  death  deprived  us  all 
of  the  incalculable  benefits  of  his  matured  judgment,  his  rare  abili 
ties  as  a  legislator,  and  his  wise  counsel  in  shaping  beneficent  legis 
lation  for  the  good  of  the  whole  people.  It  is  in  the  service  of 
such  men  as  he  that  our  institutions  find  their  greatest  stability  and 
our  country  realizes  its  grandest  destiny.  We  pause  to-day  to  join 
in  these  memorial  exercises,  not  for  his  sake,  but  for  our  own  and 
our  country's.  His  work  among  men  is  ended ;  his  earthly  rec 
ord  is  complete.  Words  of  eulogy  may  add  nothing  to  the  honor 
due  his  name  and  character,  but  they  may  well  stimulate  those  upon 
whom  the  great  responsibilities  of  public  service  in  the  present  and 
the  future  shall  rest  to  higher  ideals  and  stricter  fidelity. 

God  give  us  men !     A  time  like  this  demands 

Strong  minds,  great  hearts,  true  faith,  and  ready  hands; 

Men  whom  the  lust  of  office  does  not  kill ; 

Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  cannot  buy ; 
Men  who  possess  opinions  and  a  will ; 

Men  who  have  honor — men  who  will  not  lie  ; 
Men  who  can  stand  before  a  demagogue, 

And  damn  his  treacherous  flatteries  without  winking ; 
Tall  men,  sun-crowned,  who  live  above  the  fog 

In  public  duty  and  in  private  thinking ; 
For  while  the  rabble,  with  their  thumb- worn  creeds, 
Their  large  professions  and  their  little  deeds, 
Mingle  in  selfish  strife,  lo !  Freedom  weeps, 
Wrong  rules  the  land,  and  waiting  Justice  sleeps. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEX.  23 


Address  of  Mr.  HEWITT,  of  New  York. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  For  THOMAS  ALLEN  Missouri  does  not  mourn 
alone.  Massachusetts  has  already  laid  a  wreath  upon  his  tomb. 
New  York  joins  with  her  sister  State  in  the  expression  of  a  com 
mon  sorrow.  Before  he  went  to  Missouri,  ALLEN  belonged  to 
New  York,  and  in  my  own  city  achieved  his  first  success  and  gave 
the  evidence  of  those  enduring  qualities  which  assured  a  successful 
career  in  every  portion  of  this  land  of  infinite  possibilities.  No 
better  type  of  what  is  styled  the  American  character  has  ever  ex 
isted.  Born  of  the  very  best  New  England  stock,  running  back 
to  the  advent  of  the  Puritans  in  the  old  Bay  State ;  grandson  of 
the  "  Fghting  Parson  "  immortalized  by  the  classic  and  sympathetic 
description  of  Washington  Irving;  one  of  a  large  family  of  chil 
dren,  with  the  inheritance  only  of  good  principles,  a  clear  head,  and 
a  firm  will  trained  to  self-reliance  in  the  midst  of  honorable  and 
favorable  poverty;  educated  in  a  New  England  academy,  and  at 
Union  College  under  the  friendly  guidance  of  Dr.  Nott,  and  be 
ginning  his  career  at  nineteen  years  of  age,  with  $25  saved  from 
the  frugal  resources  of  a  godly  father ;  coming  to  a  great  city  in 
which  he  was  an  utter  stranger;  working  for  a  pittance  while 
waiting  for  the  opportunities  which  youth  never  fails  to  find  when 
governed  by  hope  and  guided  by  virtuous  resolves,  the  youthful 
ALLEN  presents  a  spectacle  alike  interesting  and  instructive  to  the 
young  whose  career  is  before  them  and  to  the  old  who  are  nearing 
the  end  of  the  race  which  is  set  before  us. 

Others  have  told  the  story  of  his  eventful  life,  full  of  labor,  of 
hopes,  of  disappointments,  of  struggles,  of  changes  of  occupation, 
of  public  usefulness,  of  the  successful  management  of  great  enter 
prises,  of  the  final  achievement  of  fame  and  fortune,  not  merely 
without  a  blemish  on  his  good  name,  with  honor  from  all  who 
knew  him,  crowned  at  last  by  the  approval  of  the  community  in 
which  his  best  and  most  active  years  had  been  passed,  in  his  elec 
tion  to  the  House  as  the  chosen  representative  of  their  interests 


24  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

and  their  aspirations  for  the  preservation  of  good  government  and 
civil  liberty. 

I  confess  that  when  1  heard  that  THOMAS  ALLEN  was  to  be  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Forty-seventh  Congress  I  felt  a  profound  sense  of  satis 
faction  and  relief.  I  knew  that  another  advocate  for  sound  prin 
ciples  in  finance,  in  taxation,  and  general  legislation  had  been  added 
to  our  number.  I  realized  that  his  great  practical  experience  in 
the  affairs  of  life  would  re-enforce  the  views  which  I  have  had  the 
honor  to  present  and  advocate  on  this  floor.  I  knew  that  "  a  king 
among  men"  and  a  "seer  among  the  sages "  had  come  into  our 
midst,  and  I  felt  ready  to  follow  where  his  wisdom,  experience, 
and  prudence  might  lead. 

Alas,  this  hope  is  disappointed  by  the  stern  mandate  of  death, 
not  untimely  perhaps  for  him,  but  all  too  soon  for  the  welfare  of 
the  country  to  whose  service  he  had  consecrated  the  remaining 
years  of  his  life.  When  I  took  his  hand  at  the  opening  of  the  session 
I  saw  in  his  wan  and  wasted  features  the  dread  sentence  of  coming 
dissolution.  I  knew  then  that  my  hopes  were  in  vain  and  that  my 
heart  must  limit  itself  to  futile  regrets  of  what  "  might  have  been," 
if  he  had  come  to  us  with  health  and  strength  and  the  old  fire 

O 

which  had  guided  him  from  Massachusetts  to  New  York,  from  New 
York  to  Washington,  at  a  time  when  the  conflicts  of  the  press  were 
waged  with  fierce  vigor  and  unequaled  ability  ;  from  Washington 
to  Missouri,  where  he  became  a  power  in  the  land  and  a  tower  of 
strength  for  all  good  works. 

From  his  dying  bed  he  sent  me  the  draft  of  a  bill  on  a  sub 
ject  of  public  importance,  and  the  notes  of  a  speech  which  he  in 
tended  to  deliver,  and  which  I  hold  in  my  hand,  hoping  that  I 
might  take  up  the  task  which  his  weary  hands  were  forced  to  de 
cline;  but  I  never  saw  him  more,  and  I  shall  never  see  again  one 
of  the  best  and  purest  and  ablest  of  the  citi/eus  who  have  ever 
served  the  state,  and  contributed  by  their  lives  to  make  this  lie- 
public  not  only  the  hope,  of  the  poor  and  oppressed  in  all  lands, 
but  the  wonder  of  the  world  in  material,  moral,  and  social  prog 
ress. 

Such  a  career  as  ALLEN'S  ;  such  purity  and  simplicity  of  char- 


LLL?E  ANJ)  CHARACTER  OF  THOMA8  ALLEN.  25 

acter  joined  to  such  capacity  for  accomplishing  results ;  such  devo 
tion  to  the  public  welfare,  without  neglecting  the  interests  of  those 
who  were  near  and  dear  to  him;  such  firm  adherence  to  the  funda 
mental  principles  of  equity  and  justice  when  the  temptation  of 
passion,  prejudice,  and  personal  interest  was  presented  on  every 
side,  is  the  best  answer  to  the  pessimistic  spirit  which  decries  the 
age  in  which  we  live  and  denies  to  it  the  possession  and  the  glory 
of  men  who,  like  the  fathers  of  the  Republic,  are  ready  to  sacrifice 
life  and  fortune  for  the  maintenance  of  the  right. 

Recent  events  in  this  country  have  shown  that  the  old  heroic 
spirit  is  not  dead,  but  that  the  "  eternal  years  of  God  "  run  on, 
not  for  the  extinction  of  truth,  but  for  the  exhibition  of  unselfish 
patriotism  and  for  the  achievement  of  high  and  noble  resolves  such 
as  animated  the  life  and  shaped  the  career  of  THOMAS  ALLEN,  to 
whose  memory  the  House  of  Representatives  now  renders  reverent 
and  grateful  homage. 

Mr.  HATCH.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  now  ask  the  adoption  of  the  resolu 
tions  which  have  been  read. 

The  resolutions  were  adopted  unanimously,  and  the  House  ad 
journed. 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  SENATE. 


IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

April  10,  1882. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  Chair  lays  before  the  Senate 
resolutions  from  the  House  of  Representatives,  which  will  be  read. 
The  Principal  Legislative  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  House  has  heard  with  sincere  regret  the  announcement 
of  the  death  of  Hon.  THOMAS  ALLEN,  late  a  Representative  from  the  State  of 
Missouri. 

Resolved  by  the  House  of  Representatives  (the  Senate  concurring),  That  a 
special  joint  committee  of  seven  Members  and  three  Senators  be  appointed 
to  take  order  for  superintending  the  funeral  and  to  escort  the  remains  of  the 
deceased  to  their  last  resting  place,  and  all  necessary  expenses  attending  the 
execution  of  this  order  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  contingent  fund  of  the 
House. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  of  the  House  communicate  the  foregoing  resolu 
tions  to  the  Senate. 

Resolved,  That,  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  this 
House  do  now  adjourn. 

Mr.  VEST.  Mr.  President,  I  submit  the  following  resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  has  received  with  profound  sensibility  the  mes 
sage  of  the  House  of  Representatives  announcing  the  death  of  Hon.  THOMAS 
ALLEN,  a  Representative  from  the  State  of  Missouri. 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  concur  in  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  that  the  President  pro  tempore  of  the  Senate  appoint 
three  Senators  to  escort  the  remains  of  the  deceased,  in  conjunction  with  the 
committee  on  the  part  of  the  House,  as  provided  in  said  resolutions. 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  agreed  to. 
Mr.  VEST.  Mr.  President,  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the 
memory  of  the  deceased,  I  move  that  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 
The  motion  was  agreed  to,  and  the  Senate  adjourned. 

27 


28  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

JUNE  23,  1882. 

A  message  from  the  House  of  Representatives,  by  Mr.  McPnER- 
SON,  its  Clerk,  communicated  to  the  Senate  the  intelligence  of  the 
death  of  Hon.  THOMAS  ALLEN,  late  a  member  of  the  House  from 
the  State  of  Missouri,  and  transmitted  the  resolutions  of  the 
House  thereon. 

Mr.  COCKIIELL.  I  ask  that  the  resolutions  of  the  House  be  laid 
before  the  Senate. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  temporc.  The  resolutions  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  will  be  read. 

The  Acting  Secretary  read  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  House  has  heard  with  profound  regret  and  deep  sorrow 
the  announcement  of  the  death  of  Hon.  THOMAS  ALLKN,  late  a  Representa 
tive  from  the  State  of  Missouri. 

Resolved,  That,  in  token  of  regard  for  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  the 
members  of  this  House  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning  for  thirty  days. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  of  the  House  be  instructed  to  communicate  these 
resolutions  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That,  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased, 
the  House  do  now  adjourn. 

Mr.  COCKRELL.  Mr.  President,  I  ask  for  the  present  considera 
tion  of  the  resolutions  which  I  send  to  the  Chair. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  temporc.  The  Senator  from  Missouri  asks 
for  the  consideration  of  the  resolutions  he  offers,  which  will  be 
read. 

The  Acting  Secretary  read  as  follows  : 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  has  received  with  profound  sorrow  the  announce 
ment  of  the  death  of  Hon.  THOMAS  ALLEN,  late  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  from  the  State  of  Missouri,  and  tenders  to  the  family  and 
kindred  of  the  deceased  the  assurance  of  sympathy  in  their  sad  bereave 
ment. 

Resolved,  That  the  business  of  the  Senate  be  now  suspended  that  oppor 
tunity  may  be  given  for  fitting  tributes  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  and 
to  his  eminent  public  and  private  virtues,  and  that,  as  a  further  mark  of  re 
spect,  the  Senate  at  the  conclusion  of  such  remarks  shall  adjourn. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  be  directed  to  transmit  to  the  family  of  the 
deceased  ;\  copy  of  these,  resolutions. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.  29 


Address  of  Mr.  COCKRELL,  of  Missouri. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  It  becomes  my  sad  duty  to  ask  the  passage  of 
these  resolutions,  and  to  join  in  paying  the  last  official  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  my  deceased  colleague  of  the  House,  Hon.  THOMAS 
ALLEN,  who  was  born  at  Pittsfiekl,  Mass.,  on  August  29,  1813, 
and  died  at  the  Arlington,  in  this  city,  on  Saturday,  April  8, 
1882. 

His  grandfather,  Rev.  Thomas  Allen,  a  minister  of  the  Congre 
gational  Church,  historically  known  as  the  "fighting  parson"  of 
the  Bennington  battle  in  our  Revolutionary  struggle,  was  the  first- 
minister  in  the  town  of  Pittsfield,  having  been  ordained  in  1764, 
and  remained  pastor  of  that  church  until  his  death,  in  1811. 

Jonathan  Allen,  son  of  Rev.  Thomas  Allen  and  father  of  Hon. 
THOMAS  ALLEN,  several  times  represented  the  town  of  Pittsfield 
in  the  legislature  and  his  district  in  the  State  senate;  was  a  quar 
termaster  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Berkshire  Agricultural  Society;  and  for  his  second  wife  married 
Miss  Eunice  Williams  Larned,  daughter  of  Darius  Lamed  and 
granddaughter  of  Col.  Israel  Williams,  of  Hatfield,  a  loyal  adhe 
rent  to  the  British  Crown  in  our  Revolutionary  war. 

Of  this  marriage  eight  children  were  born,  of  whom  Hon. 
THOMAS  ALLEN  was  the  third.  Mr.  ALLEN,  in  his  youth,  at 
tended  the  common  schools  in  his  native  town  and  the  Pittsfield 
Academy.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  entered  Union  College  and 
graduated  in  1832.  He  chose  the  profession  of  law,  and  began 
his  studies  in  Albany,  New  York,  which  were  interrupted  by  the 
cholera  visitation  to  that  city.  Family  misfortunes,  involving 
heavy  pecuniary  losses,  made  it  impracticable  for  him  to  resume 
study  in  Albany. 

The  struggles,  privations,  and  hopes  of  Mr.  ALLEN  in  launch 
ing  his  boat  on  life's  ocean  are  best  stated  m  his  own  words,  taken 
from  a  letter  to  a  friend  : 

My  good  father  said  to  me:  "I  have  given  yon  an  education;  here  are 
$•2;");  it  is  all  that  I  can  do ;  go  and  take  care  of  yourself."     I  took  the  boon 


30  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

with  gratitude ;  and  with  a  full  determination  to  return  it  with  interest,  and 
to  repay,  if  possible,  the  care  of  my  always  kind  parents,  I  started  for  the 
city  of  New  York.  On  the  evening  of  the  18th  of  October,  1832, 1  took  lodg 
ings  at  a  boarding-house  at  the  corner  of  Wall  street  and  Broadway,  now 
(1853)  occupied  by  the  new  Metropolitan  Bank.  My  mind  was*  not  a  little 
concerned  in  deciding  upon  my  course  of  life.  I  was  at  the  heart  of  a  great 
city,  and  often  felt  a  sense  of  utter  loneliness  and  desolation.  With  a  little 
purse  that  must  inevitably  be  exhausted  in  a  few  weeks  at  most,  what 
should  I  do  ?  After  revolving  several  plans  in  my  mind  I  resolved  to  perse 
vere  in  the  profession  of  the  law,  as  I  originally  contemplated. 

Knowing  that  I  had  to  work  my  passage  into  the  profession,  I  kept  a  vigi 
lant  eye  out  for  employment.  In  a  few  days  I  discovered  in  the  Evening 
Post  an  advertisement  of  "A  clerk  wanted"  in  a  lawyer's  office.  I  lost  no 
time  in  repairing  to  the  hoped-for  haven.  Alas!  there  had  been  many  appli 
cants,  and  the  place  was  already  filled,  and  the  young  man  who  tilled  it 
looked  upon  me  with  rather  a  patronizing  air.  I  resolved,  notwithstanding, 
to  present  my  letters  of  introduction,  and  finally  obtained  permission  to  re 
main  in  the  office  and  read  the  books,  paying  for  the  privilege  in  clerical 
labor. 

Happily  for  me  I  was  not  long  in  discovering  that  my  fellow-student  who 
received  the  salary  soon  had  a  sinecure.  My  necessity,  if  nothing  else,  drove 
me-  to  industry,  and  with  better  chirography  I  soon  won  much  of  the  busi 
ness  of  the  office,  and  was  finally  installed  in  a  clerkship  in  Hatch  &  Cam- 
breleng's  office  in  Wall  street,  with  a  salary  of  $300  per  annum.  In  this  sit 
uation  I  continued  for  three  years,  learning  the  practice  of  the  law  from  the 
labors  thrown  upon  me,  and  employing  my  leisure  moments  in  studying  the 
books.  My  pay  was  so  small  that  I  had  to  economize  closely  to  get  along. 
A  part  of  the  time  I  roomed  in  an  attic  apartment  with  a  respectable  jour 
neyman  jeweler  in  Duaue  street,  but  though  often  for  weeks  without  a  penny 
in  my  pocket  I  did  not  repine.  Hopefully  persevering,  I  increased  my  little 
income  somewhat  by  copying  for  other  members  of  the  bar.  Some  of  my 
letters  at  this  time  show  an  occasional  trace  of  despondency,  and  sometimes 
a  little  disgust  with  the  dry  study  of  the  law,  which  was  not  half  so  pleas 
ant  to  me  as  holidays  in  the  country. 

I  was  not  satisfied  whether  New  York  was  my  proper  place,  and  frequently 
had  dreams  of  the  West,  and  even  of  New  Orleans.  In  1833  President  Jack 
son  visited  New  York,  followed  a  day  or  two  after  by  the  celebrated  Indian 
Black  Hawk.  I  wrote  an  account  of  the  visit  of  those  chiefs,  describing 
their  personal  appearance  and  the  unusual  scenes  following  them  in  the  city. 
I  wrote  now  and  then  a  comment  or  a  criticism  upon  passing  events,  which 
I  sometimes  published  in  the  newspapers.  But  my  time  was  too  much  occu 
pied  in  obtaining  a  living  to  indulge  my  literary  taste.  Seeing  that  I  had  an 
editorial  turn,  a  book-seller  with  whom  I  had  become  acquainted  joined  me 
in  a  plan  to  publish  the  first  penny  newspaper  ever  published  in  America. 

While  in  the  country  completing  his  arrangements  others  got  wind  of  the 
design,  and  before  the  plan  could  be  executed  had  issued  a  paper  on  that 


L1FK  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.  31 

plan.  Others  quickly  followed.  I  then  gave  up  the  idea,  aiid  in  September, 
1834,  became  the  editor  of  the  Family  Magazine,  a  monthly  illustrated  jour 
nal  of  useful  general  intelligence,  J.  S.  Redfield,  publisher.  T  edited  his 
magazine  in  such  moments  as  I  could  get  from  my  law  pursuits  for  about  a 
year  and  a  half.  The  magazine  contributed  materially  to  my  support. 
About  this  time  I  was  engaged  by  the  principal  law-book  selling  house  of 
New  York  to  assist  in  compiling  a  digest  of  the  decisions  of  the  New  York 
courts  from  the  earliest  times  down  to  that  period.  Upon  this  work  I  labored 
over  a  year.  For  my  share  of  labor  in  that  work  I  received  a  small  but 
select  law  library. 

These  struggles  and  privations  only  nerved  his  arms  and 
strengthened  his  heart  for  future  triumphs.  He  remembered  what 
Horace  said: 

Nil  mortalibus  arduum  eat; 

And- 

Nil  sine  niagno 

Vita  labore  dedit  mortalibus. 

In  1835  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  by  the  supreme  court  of 
New  York,  and  received  his  master's  degree  from  his  alma  mater, 
Union  College. 

In  1836  he  visited  Washington  City  and  became  acquainted 
with  President  Jackson  and  the  distinguished  public  men  of  that 
day. 

In  1837  he  journeyed  to  the  State  of  Illinois  to  inspect  lands 
owned  by  his  uncle,  General  Ripley,  in  the  military  reservations 
of  that  State.  On  arriving  at  Peoria  he  received  letters  from 
friends  in  Washington  urging  him  to  return  and  establish  a  new 
journal. 

Returning  by  way  of  New  York,  where  he  conferred  with 
friends,  he  undertook  the  establishment  of  the  journal,  issued  the 
prospectus  of  the  Madisonian,  and  was  soon  at  his  post  in  Wash 
ington  with  presses,  materials,  and  printers,  and  began  the  publi 
cation  of  the  Madisonian  in  the  field  of  journalism  then  so  largely 
occupied  by  able  and  veteran  editors.  He  issued  the  first  number 
on  August  16,  1837,  holding  among  other  leading  ideas  "that  a 
mixed  currency  is  essential  to  a  highly  civilized  commercial  state.7' 

Mr.  Van  Buren  having  been  inaugurated  President  March  4, 
1837,  convened  Congress  in  extraordinary  session  on  September  1, 


32  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

18<37.  In  the  election  then  held  for  Public  Printer,  Messrs.  Gales 
&  Seaton,  of  the  Intelligencer,  and  Messrs.  Blair  &  Rives,  of  the 
Globe,  and  Mr.  ALLEN,  of  the  Madisonian,  being  the  candidates, 
Mr.  ALLEN  was  chosen,  after  a  contest  of  three  days,  on  the 
twelfth  ballot.  Political  excitement  then  ran  high,  and  the  dis 
cussions  in  the  press  and  on  the  rostrum  grew  warm.  Mr.  ALLEN 
firmly  maintained  the  position  he  had  taken  in  the  Madisonian, 
and,  in  opposition  to  the  administration  of  Mr.  Van  Bnren,  con 
ducted  the  discussions  in  the  Madisonian  with  dignity  and  ability. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  1831)  Mr.  ALLEN  was  dangerously  ill, 
and  on  his  recovery  prepared  for  the  National  Magazine  a  compre 
hensive  and  critical  review  of  political  affairs,  which  was  widely 
republished. 

In  the  summer  of  that  year  Mr.  ALLEN,  being  at  the  Virginia 
Springs,  wrote  a  series  of  u Letters  from  a  Convalescent,"  which 
were  much  quoted. 

In  the  campaign  of  1840  he  preferred,  as  a  candidate  for  Presi 
dent,  Hon.  William  C.  Rives,  of  Virginia,  but  upon  the  nomina 
tion  of  General  Harrison  and  Mr.  Tyler  for  President  and  Vice- 
President  gave  them  a  zealous  support,  in  opposition  to  Van  Buren 
and  Johnson. 

In  the  midst  of  the  campaign,  on  April  11,  1840,  the  Madiso 
nian  printing  office,  with  all  that  Mr.  ALLEN  possessed,  except  his 
library,  was  burned.     On   May  2,  1840,   the   Madisonian   reap 
peared  under  the  continued  management  of  Mr.  ALLEN,  announc 
ing  itself— 
Self  born,  begotten  by  the  parent  flame 
In  which  it  burned:  another,  yet  the  same. 

The  vigor  and  ability  of  the  Madisonian  were  not  diminished 
by  the  ordeal  of  fire,  and  during  this  wildly  exciting  campaign  it 
gained  what  was  then  considered  a  very  large  circulation,  twenty 
thousand. 

The  efforts  of  Mr.  ALLEN  in  behalf  of  Harrison  and  Tyler 
were  not  confined  to  the  columns  of  the  Madisonian,  but  were  also 
effectively  put  forth  on  the  rostrum  in  addresses  before  the  na 
tional  convention  of  young  men  at  Baltimore;,  at  a  public,  dinner 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.  33 

given  him  by  the  citizens  of  his  native  town,  and  in  several  States. 
President  Harrison,  on  his  arrival  in  Washington,  acknowledged 
the  valuable  services  of  Mr.  ALLEN,  and  that  he  had  correctly 
represented  his  views.  Of  the  sad  group  who  stood  bv  the  bed 
side  when  the  venerable  President  died  Mr.  ALLEN  was  one.  On 
the  succession  of  Mr.  Tyler  the  Madisoniau  was  a  medium  of 
executive  communication  with  the  public,  and  Mr.  ALLEN  had  a 
potent  voice  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  Cabinet. 

In  1842  Mr.  ALLEN  removed  to  the  city  of  Saint  Louis  and  be 
came  an  adopted  son  of  Missouri,  and  in  July  of  that  year  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Ann  C.  Russell,  a  daughter  of  William 
C.  Russell,  esq.,  a  wealthy  and  prominent  citizen  of  that  city. 
Being  pecuniarily  independent,  Mr.  ALLEN  closed  his  law  office 
and  interested  himself  in  the  public  affairs  of  his  adopted  city  and 
State,  and  earnestly  engaged  in  the  development  of  the  great  sys 
tem  of  internal  improvements  in  Missouri  and  the  Mississippi 
Valley. 

In  1848,  at  the  request  of  a  public  meeting  held  in  Saint  Louis, 
he  prepared  an  able  address,  urging  a  subscription  by  the  city  of 
Saint  Louis  in  aid  of  the  Saint  Louis  and  Cincinnati  Railroad. 

In  1849  and  1850  Mr.  ALLEN  earnestly  urged  the  construction 
of  the  Pacific  Railroad  in  Missouri,  and  was  elected  president  of 
the  company,  which  began  the  work  of  construction  July  4,  1851. 

In  1850  he  wras  elected  a  State  senator  for  four  years  from  Saint 
Louis  in  the  general  assembly  of  Missouri,  and  was  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  internal  improvements,  and  in  co-operation  with 
others,  succeeded  in  securing  a  loan  of  the  credit  of  the  State  for 
$2,000,000  in  aid  of  this  road,  and  in  1852  in  obtaining  from 
Congress  a  grant  of  public  lands. 

In  September,  1852,  desiring  to  adopt  a  system  of  internal  im 
provements  which  would  embrace  the  interests  and  secure  the  co 
operation  of  all  parts  of  the  State,  he  proposed  a  plan  for  the  aid  of 
several  lines  of  railway  by  the  State,  which,  although  not  accepted 
as. a  whole,  was  afterward  substantially  adopted,  giving  a  loan  of 
the  credit  of  the  State  to  the  original  Pacific  Railroad,  the  South 
west  Branch,  the  Hannibal  and  Saint  Joseph, and  the  North  Missouri 

3  AL 


34  LIVE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

Railroads,  with  an  assignment  to  two  of  them  of  lands  granted  to 
the  State.  In  1854  Mr.  ALLEN  resigned  his  office  of  president  and 
director  in  the  Pacific  Railroad,  receiving  most  complimentary  reso 
lutions  from  the  board  of  directors.  In  1857  he  was  chosen  presi 
dent  of  the  Torre  Haute,  Alton  and  Saint  Louis  Railroad,  and  re 
signed  at  the  end  of  the  year. 

In  1858  he  founded  the  banking  house  of  Allen,  Copp  &  Nesbitt, 
in  Saint  Louis. 

In  1860  and  1861,  when  civil  war  threatened  our  fair  land,  Mr. 
ALLEN  steadfastly  maintained  the  integrity  of  the  Union  and  con 
tributed  $1,500  for  the  equipment  of  the  Allen  Guard,  organized  in 
his  native  town  of  Pittsfield. 

He  rendered  valuable  services  to  the  authorities  of  Pittsfield  in 
filling  the  town's  quota  of  soldiers  for  the  Union  Army.  In  1862 
Mr.  ALLEN  was  the  candidate  of  the  "  Unconditional  Union  Men  " 
of  Saint  Louis  for  Representative  in  Congress,  and  was  defeated  by 
slanders  charging  him  with  disloyalty,  notwithstanding  his  untiring 
devotion  and  his  valuable  and  liberal  services  to  the  cause  of  the 
Union. 

In  1867  he  again  interested  himself  in  railroads.  The  Iron 
Mountain  Railroad  had  received  large  subsidies  from  the  State  of 
Missouri  and  city  of  Saint  Louis,  and  was  surrendered  to  or  taken 
possession  of  by  the  State  unfinished.  The  Cairo  and  Fulton  Rail 
road,  extending  to  Arkansas,  was  closely  connected  with  the  Iron 
Mountain.  Their  speedy  completion  was  deemed  important. 

The  general  assembly  ordered  these  two  roads  to  be  sold  to  the 
highest  and  best  bidders.  They  were  sold  together.  Mr.  ALLEN 
purchased  these  roads  from  the  successful  bidders  and  completed 
the  Iron  Mountain  road  in  1869.  In  1870  he  began  the  construc 
tion  of  an  extension  of  the  Iron  Mountain  road  to  Arkansas,  which 
was  completed  in  1872.  Having,  with  his  associates,  purchased 
the  franchise  of  the  Cairo  and  Fulton  road  in  Arkansas,  he  con 
tinued  the  extension  of  the  road  to  Little  Rock,  Arkansas,  and 
thence  to  Texarkana,  Tex. 

All  these  roads  were  consolidated  under  the  name  of  the  Saint 
Louis,  Iron  Mountain  and  Southern  Railway. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.  35 

In  the  rapid  construction  and  completion  of  these  roads  Mr. 
ALLEN  exhibited  wonderful  ability  and  energy.  This  was  the 
busiest  period  of  his  life,  having  in  addition  to  the  management  of 
the  roads  named  the  presidency  of  many  other  corporate  organiza 
tions. 

In  the  rapid  construction  of  the  long  lines  of  road  he  negotiated 
bonds,  mostly  in  Europe.  In  1877  the  foreign  bondholders,  becom 
ing  jealous  of  Mr.  ALLEN'S  management,  instituted  proceedings  in 
the  United  States  courts  for  the  appointment  of  a  receiver,  which 
he  successfully  resisted,  and  retained  the  management. 

In  1881  Mr.  ALLEN  sold  the  road  to  Mr.  Jay  Gould,  receiving 
one  check  for  $2,000,000. 

Mr.  ALLEN  erected  in  Saint  Louis  the  Southern  Hotel,  a  magnifi 
cent  structure,  which  was  appropriately  opened  May  11,  1881. 

In  1880  Mr.  ALLEN  was  nominated  as  a  Democrat  for  Representa 
tive  in  the  Forty-seventh  Congress  from  the  second  Congressional 
district  of  Missouri,  embracing  portions  of  the  city  and  county  of 
Saint  Louis,  and  was  duly  elected  in  November,  1880. 

His  health  failing,  he  made  an  extended  European  tour  with  the 
hope  of  relief  and  restoration,Jn  which  he  was  disappointed.  Re 
turning  to  Pittsfield,  he  was  able  to  take  his  seat  at  the  beginning 
of  the  first  session  of  this  Congress  and  to  visit  the  Capitol  a  few 
times,  when  he  became  confined  to  his  bed. 

Mr.  ALLEN  was  strong  in  his  local  attachments  and  never  forgot 
his  native  town  and  ancestral  home.  Some  years  after  his  father's 
death  he  purchased  the  interests  of  the  other  heirs  in  the  home 
stead — built  by  his  grandfather  soon  after  his  settlement  as  the  first 
minister  of  the  town  of  Pittsfield — and  then  purchased  the  old  med 
ical  boarding-house,  standing  on  a  part  of  his  grandfather's  original 
lot.  Afterward  he  removed  the  parsonage  and  boarding-house,  and 
erected  in  their  stead  the  beautiful  Elizabethan  mansion,  of  Great 
Barrington  blue-stone,  which  thereafter  was  his  summer  home.  He 
also  purchased  two  fine  farms  near  Pittsfield,  one  of  which  had  be 
longed  to  his  father  and  was  the  home  of  his  boyhood.  In  the  com 
forts  and  quietude  of  his  Pittsfield  home  he  sought  in  summer  rest 
and  recreation. 


36  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

Mr.  ALLEN  bore  his  protracted  illness  and  confinement  with  true 
Christian  fortitude  and  resignation,  and  on  the  morning  of  Satur 
day,  April  8,  1882,  .slept  the  sleep  that  has  no  awakening  on  earth. 

Religions  services  were  conducted  by  Rev.  Dr.  Power,  Chaplain 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  on  Sunday,  April  9,  at  the  Arling 
ton,  attended  by  the  President  of  the  Senate,  the  Speaker  of  the 
House,  his  family  and  many  friends;  after  which  his  remains  were 
escorted  to  Pittsfield  by  committees  of  the  House  and  Senate,  and 
at  Pittsfield  were  taken  charge  of  by  devoted  friends,  and  borne  to 
his  residence. 

On  Tuesday,  April  11,  his  remains  were  escorted  from  the  resi 
dence  to  the  beautiful  Congregational  church,  of  which  his  grand 
father  had  been  pastor  from  1764  to  1811,  where  the  finished  and 
eloquent  funeral  sermon  was  delivered  by  Rev.  Dr.  J.  L.  Jenkins, 
the  pastor,  from  the  text : 

And  Samuel  died ;  and  all  the  Israelites  gathered  together  and  lamented  him 
and  buried  him  in  his  house  at  Ramah. — 1  Samuel,  25,  1. 

After  which  they  were  borne  to  the  Pittsfield  Cemetery  and  buried, 
there  to  await  the  resurrection  morn.  Mr.  ALLEN  was  energetic, 
persevering,  patient,  and  hopeful.  And,  in  all  the  relations  of  life 
was  an  honorable,  just, and  generous  gentleman,  and  faithful,  consist 
ent  Christian.  He  was  a  man  of  great  literary  attainments  and  schol 
arly  tastes,  and  was  the  liberal  patriot  of  literature  and  science. 

In  the  Washington  University  of  Saint  Louis  he  founded  a  pro 
fessorship  of  "  Mines  and  Metallurgy;"  and  in  Pittsfield  the  Athe- 
neum,  devoted  "  to  promoting  education,  culture,  and  refinement, 
and  diffusing  knowledge/' 

On  the  day  of  the  burial,  the  trustees  of  the  Atheneum  unan 
imously  adopted  the  following  recognition  of  his  worth  and  services: 

The  useful  life  of  THOMAS  ALLEN,  the  president  of  this  board  of  trustees,  is 
ended.  To  him  this  institution  owes  its  existence.  The  continuing  benefits  it 
will  confer  upon  this  community  no  man  can  rightly  estimate.  It  has  no  limita 
tions.  That  it  is,  and  will  be  in  all  the  future,  a  most  efficient  promoter  of 
education,  culture,  and  good  morals  we  all  know. 

It  becomes  us,  therefore,  the  surviving  members  of  the  board  of  trustees,  the 
almoners  of  his  bounty,  at  this  time,  in  behalf  of  ourselves  and  the  community 
which  shares  with  us  the  benefits  and  advantages  of  this  educational  institu 
tion,  to  express  our  thankfulness  that  he  lived  so  long  to  see  the  beneficent 


LLFK  AND  CHARACTER  O/<'  THOMAS  ALLEN.  37 

results  of  his  well-directed  benevolence;  our  regret  that  we  shall  no  longer 
have  the  benefit  of  his  calm  and  wise  counsels  in  our  board ;  and  our  belief 
that  a  grateful  memory  will  ever  be  cherished  of  THOMAS  ALLEN  in  his  native 
town. 

Mr.  ALLEN  was  not  content  with  the  gift  of  this  admirable  building  and 
frequent  pecuniary  aid.  He  always  actively  interested  himself  in  the  interests 
of  this  corporation,  de.voted,  as  lie  expressed  it  in  the  charter,  "to  promoting 
education,  culture,  and  refinement,  and  diffusing  knowledge."  He 'saw  with 
undisguised  gratification  its  rapidly  extending  influence,  which  he  did  all  in 
his  power  to  forward. 

A  gift  thoughtfully  bestowed  is  always  characteristic  of  the  giver.  Mr. 
ALLEN'S  natural  tendencies  were  toward  scholarship  in  the  highest  sense  of 
that  term.  In  all  his  active,  busy  life,  conducting  great  enterprises  and  in 
volved  in  hazardous  business  undertakings,  he  never  forgot  nor  laid  aside  his 
love  for  literature,  culture,  and  art.  Therefore,  in  founding  this  institution, 
he  gave  a  true  indication  of  the  real  and  finer  qualities  of  the  man. 

It  is  not  for  us  to  speak  of  his  public  career.  His  reputation  was  national. 
He  bravely  conducted  his  well-spent  life.  No  temptations  interrupted  its 
equable  course.  He  proved  himself  in  all  respects  a  worthy  descendant  of 
the  first  minister  of  Pittsfield,  upon  whose  monument  is  inscribed  u  For  liter 
gerit  crticem. " 

It  is  now  for  us  to  resolve  that  we  will  faithfully  endeavor  to  fulfill  the  high 
hopes  which  THOMAS  ALLEN  had  of  the  future  of  the  Berkshire  Atheneum, 
and  to  so  administer  its  affairs  that  his  name,  shall  be  blessed  by  good  men  in 
all  the  generations  to  come. 

Voted  that  these  minutes  be  entered  upon  the  records. 

Mr.  ALLEN  had  two  home*,  Saint  Louis  and  Pittsfield,  botji  of 
which  he  honored  and  loved,  and  in  both  of  which,  he  was  honored 
and  loved. 

The  following  resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  board  of  directors 
of  the  Merchants'  Exchange : 

To  the  President  and  Directors  of  the 

Merchants1  Exchange  of  Saint  Louis,  J/o. : 

GENTLEMEN:  Your  committee,  appointed  to  draft  resolutions  out  of  respect 
to  the  late  Hon.  THOMAS  ALLEN,  beg  leave  to  submit  the  following: 

THOMAS  ALLEN  was  a  member  of  the  Merchants'  Exchange  of  Saint  Louis, 
so  distinguished  in  many  ways  that  his  death  has  caused  a  vacancy  in  our 
ranks  of  no  ordinary  kind.  Now  that  he  has  gone,  we  are  the  more  conscious 
of  his  extraordinary  character. 

A  model  of  punctuality  in  all  dealings,  sincere  and  earnest  in  all  he  did, 
thoughtful  and  considerate  in  all  he  said,  uniting  public  spirit  with  his  plans 
for  personal  profit,  the  influence  he  exerted  was  at  once  to  his  own  credit 
and  for  the  general  advancement. 

Dignified,  yet  courteous;  cool,  yet  energetic;  intellectual,  yet  candid;  he 


38  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

has  left  behind  him  an  honored  name,  more  valued  than  the  immense  fortune 
which  crowned  his  career  with  success. 

It  was  equally  his  good  fortune  to  accumulate  property  and  command  respect. 

While  toiling  for  himself  he  did  not  forget  others,  and  in  advancing  his  own 
interests  he  studied  to  promote  the  general  welfare. 

As  a  projector  of  public  highways,  as  a  liberal  contributor  to  public  spirited 
enterprises,  he  faithfully  observed  his  obligations,  and  attached  to  himself  the 
life-long  friendship  of  honorable  men,  who  loved  him  while  living  and  cherish 
his  memory  when  dead. 

In  order,  therefore,  to  perpetuate  the  recollection  of  his  extraordinary 
virtues  and  abilities  as  a  member  of  this  exchange, 

Be  it  resolved,  That  the  loss  sustained  by  the  nation,  the  State,  and  the  city 
in  the  death  of  Hon.  THOMAS  ALLEN  is  deeply  felt  and  lamented  by  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Merchants'  Exchange. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  scholar,  writer,  speaker,  legislator,  banker,  railroad  presi 
dent,  capitalist,  and  business  man,  the  character  of  THOMAS  ALLEN  was  of 
exalted  purity  and  excellence. 

Resolved,  That  his  social  virtues  and  personal  demeanor  rendered  him  an  ex 
ample  worthy  of  imitation. 

Resolved,  That  we  mourn  his  death  as  an  irreparable  loss  to  his  family,  to 
the  community,  and  to  the  members  of  the  exchange. 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  spread  upon  our  records,  and  a  copy  for 
warded  to  his  bereaved  widow  with  the  sympathy  of  his  fellow-members. 

S.  H.  LAFLIN. 
D.  P.  ROWLAND. 
GERARD  B.  ALLEN. 

SAINT  Louis,  April  22,  1882. 

In  his  last  illness  he  said  to  his  pastor,  "  I  would  like  to  live  a 
few  years  longer.  There  are  some  things  I  would  like  to  do  for 
Missouri." 

In  the  annual  town  meeting  of  Pittsfield,  held  on  Monday,  April 
10,  1882,  the  following  proceedings  were  had : 

All  business  but  voting  was  suspended  until  half  past  2,  and  then,  the 
meeting  being  called  to  order,  Hon.  J.  N.Dunham  took  the  floor,  saying  that 
though  in  the  ordinary  business  of  a  town  meeting  there  were  matters  about 
which  there  would  be  disagreement  and  difference  of  opinion,  he  desired  to 
call  attention  to  a  matter  in  which  there  would  be  no  disagreement.  He 
would  turn  aside  for  a  moment  from  the  business  of  the  warrant  and  review 
for  a  short  time  the  past  year.  From  the  meeting  to-day  we  miss  many  dis 
tinguished  men  who  have  died  during  the  year — men  who  had  taken  active 
part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  town  in  the  past,  and  by  their  influence  had 
done  much  to  shape,  improve,  and  preserve  the  good  name  of  Pittsfield.  He 
then  alluded  to  John  C.  Parker,  Judge  Colt,  Ensign  IT.  Kellogg,  Zeno  Rus 
sell,  Theodore  Pomeroy,  Solomon  L.  Russell,  and  George  P.  Hriggs,  and  closed 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.       39 

with  fitting  reference  to  THOMAS  ALLEN'S  death,  and  ottered  the  following, 
which,  by  a  unanimous  rising-  vote,  was  adopted  as  an  expression  of  the  sen 
timents  of  the  meeting  and  ordered  inscribed  in  the  records  of  the  town  : 

"  THOMAS  ALLEN,  a  native  of  Pittsfield,  a  Representative  in  the  Forty- 
seventh  Congress  of  the  United  States  from  Missouri,  his  adopted  State,  died 
at  Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  at  his  post  of  duty,  April  8,  1882,  and 
his  remains  have  to-day  been  brought  to  this  town  for  burial,  the  home  of 
his  boyhood  and  his  abiding  place  when  seeking  rest  or  recreation,  and  it  is 
meet  and  proper  that  the  citizens  of  Pittsfield,  while  assembled  this  day  at 
its  annual  town  meeting,  should,  for  a  moment  at  least,  pause  in  their  pro 
ceedings  to  consider  the  life  and  death  of  one  of  her  most  distinguished  sons, 
one  who  for  a  lifetime  has  taken  a  deep  and  lively  interest  in  the  welfare  of 
the  town  ;  one  who,  in  time  of  the  war,  exhibited  his  patriotism  by  word  and 
deed,  by  his  liberal  contribution  to  equip  the  Allen  Guard  for  immediate  duty 
in  the  field,  for  his  various  and  varied  work  and  charities  while  the  war  lasted ; 
one  who  by  his  magnificent  and  munificent  gifts  to  the  town  of  Pittstield,  by 
causing  to  be  erected  at  his  expense  that  enduring  monument  known  as  the 
Berkshire  Atheneum,  thereby  insuring  the  establishment  of  a  free  public 
library,  open  to  all  alike,  rich  and  poor,  native  and  foreign  born,  an  educational 
institution  of  itself,  its  benefits  beyond  computation.  The  citizens,  yes,  the 
town  of  Pittsfield,  will  ever  remember  THOMAS  ALLEN  with  pride  and  grati 
tude,  and  now  that  he  is  dead,  we  tender  to  his  afflicted  family  our  hearty 
sympathy,  and  desire  that  this  statement  may  become  a  part  of  the  records 
of  this  town  as  due  not  only  to  the  present,  but  future  generations." 

These  public  proceedings  on  the  part  of  citizens  of  Saint  Louis 
and  Pittsfield  portray  the  true  character  of  Mr.  ALLEN,  and  show 
the  friendship  and  love  entertained  for  him  by  those  who  knew  him 
best. 

Mr.  ALLEN  inherited  a  sound  body,  full  of  vitality,  a  vigorous 
mind,  a  clear  judgment,  a  firm  will,  and  a  high  moral  sense — was 
"  well-born."  So  it  has  been  said  Mr.  ALLEN  derived  his  descent 
on  one  side  from  one  of  the  Revolutionary  whigs  most  noted  for 
his  uncompromising  zeal,  and  on  the  other,  from  one  of  the  staunch- 
est  American  adherents  to  the  British  Crown. 

Mr.  ALLEN  was  the  head  of  an  interesting  and  intelligent  family 
circle — a  wife  and  seven  children — in  whose  cultured  society  and 
companionship  he  took  great  delight.  He  was  a  faithful  and  loving 
husband,  a  kind  and  affectionate  father. 

Mr.  ALLEN  was  a  member  of  the  Congregational  Church,  and  a 
man  of  faith  and  of  prayer.  In  his  last  illness  he  said  :  "  I  know 
not  how  it  is  with  other  men,  but  I  have  been  a  man  of  prayer  all 


40        LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

my  life.     I  have  always,  before  important  decisions,  sought  guid 
ance  from  God." 

His  pastor,  in  the  conclusion  of  the  funeral  discourse,  portrayed 
the  true  Christian  character  of  Mr.  ALLEN  in  these  words:  "  He 
felt  the  imperative  claim  of  the  right.  He  revolted  from  the  wrong. 
At  the  base  of  his  character  was  this  firm  rock.  Allied  to  his 
moral  sensitiveness  was  Mr.  ALLEN'S  faith  in  God.  He  had  this 
not  as  an  inheritance  but  as  a  conviction.  God  was  an  intelligent 
person  to  him,  a  being  from  whom  direction  could  be  received,  to 
whom  service  was  due.  Mr.  ALLEN  believed  in  immortality.  He 
may  well  have  believed  in  it.  He  could  not  easilv  conclude  that  a 
force  that  had  been  what  his  personal  will  and  energy  had  been 
should  suddenly  cease.  He  never  supposed  it  would.  In  the  long 
sickness  which  he  suffered  from  his  mind  was  naturally  much  en 
gaged  with  the  supreme  problems  of  life  and  death.  He  was  able 
to  think  calmly  and  protractedly.  His  thoughts  were  high.  He 
had,  he  said,  during  his  last  illness,  revelations.  Yes,  revelations 
of  God,  and  in  many  ways.  Evidently  God  was  in  his  thoughts 
much.  So  in  those  weeks,  months  of  pain,  of  confinement,  as  he 
was  drawing  nearer  to  God,  God  drew  near  to  him.  And  at  last 
he  was  not,  for  God  had  taken  him." 


Address  of  Mr.  DAWES,  of  Massachusetts. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  The  late  Representative  from  the  second  district 
of  Missouri  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  born  within 
sight  of  my  own  home,  and  thither  a  committee  of  this  Congress 
have  recently  borne  his  remains  for  burial. 

I  may  be  permitted,  I  trust,  a  few  words  of  tribute  to  the  char 
acter  and  worth  of  a  departed  friend  and  townsman.  THOMAS 
ALLEN  was  of  the  sternest  Revolutionary  stock,  mingled  with  the 
stoutest  of  loyal  blood.  His  grandfather,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Allen, 
whose  name  he  bore,  the  first  clergyman  of  Pittsfield,  was  the  soul 
of  the  patriot  cause  in  his  native  town,  and  weekly  from  the  pulpit 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.  41 

stirred  the  blood  of  his  hearers  to  face  danger  and  make  sacrifices 
in  the  struggle  for  national  existence,  sharing  all  they  dared  or  suf 
fered. 

News  of  the  British  march  upon  Bennington,  forty  miles  distant, 
reached  him  in  the  pulpit  on  Sunday.  Dismissing  his  congregation, 
he  called  for  volunteers  on  the  church  green,  and,  putting  himself 
at  their  head,  hastened  to  the  scene  of  that  memorable  battle,  where 
his  valor  earned  for  him  the  name  of  the  "  Fighting  Parson."  On 
the  side  of  his  mother,  on  the  contrary,  the  grandfather  of  Mr. 
ALLEN  was  one  of  a  little  band  of  loyalists  in  a  neighboring 
county,  equally  firm  in  his  convictions,  and  equally  ready  to  en 
counter  peril  or  make  sacrifices  for  their  maintenance.  Fidelity  to 
his  king  was  a  part  of  his  religion,  harboring  no  doubt  and  leaving 
no  stain. 

The  qualities  which  make  up  a  man  sprung  of  such  stock  were 
sure  to  be  sterling  ;  and  all  the  conditions  under  which  he  entered 
upon  life  and  essayed  its  work  were  sure  to  make  of  him  a  robust 
and  aggressive  character.  The  mountains  round  about  the  home 
of  his  youth  were  not  more  firmly  fixed  in  their  abiding  place  than 
the  faith  in  God  and  His  law  which  came  to  him  with  his  first 
breath  :  and  their  sides  were  not  more  rugged  or  hard  to  climb 
than  the  path  along  which  his  early  footsteps  were  led.  By  the 
fireside  and  on  the  mother's  knee  and  in  the  school-house  by  the 
road  side,  scant  in  comfort  and  appointments,  was  begun  that  train 
ing  of  faculties  in  Mr.  ALLEX,  of  a  quality  and  temper  sure  to 
develop  a  force  in  the  world. 

He  was  the  fifth  of  a  family  of  ten  children,  whom  his  father 
was  able  only  by  the  most  rigid  economy  to  support  upon  the 
products  which  a  small  Berkshire  farm  reluctantly  yielded  to  un 
remitting  toil.  Little  beyond  the  time  spent  in  attendance  upon 
the  district  school  was  it  in  the  power  of  his  father  to  bestow  upon 
him  in  preparation  for  his  work  in  life.  But  this  time  was  so 
well  spent  that  he  found  others  willing  to  help  him  build  upon  the 
foundation  thus  laid,  and  under  the  preparatory  tuition  of  Chester 
Dewey,  one  of  the  best  of  New  England  teachers,  in  his  native 
town,  and  the  teaching  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Nott,  of  Union  Col- 


42  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

lege,  he  took  with  the  honors  of  the  college  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts  from  that  institution  before  he  was  twenty  years  of  age. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  New  York  City  at  twenty-two, 
and  came  to  Washington  in  the  winter  preceding  the  inauguration 
of  Mr..  Van  Buren,  on  his  way  to  New  Orleans  to  commence  the 
practice  of  his  profession.  He  had  inherited  a  taste  for  politics. 
Jeffersonism  was  preached  weekly  from  the  pulpit  of  his  grand 
father,  and  Federalism  from  a  neighboring  church  which  had  col 
onized  from  the  mother  church  for  the  very  purpose  of  securing 
political  liberty.  This  natural  taste  for  politics,  cultivated  from 
his  early  youth,  had  frequently  engaged  him  in  contributions  for 
the  press.  Even  before  entering  college  he  was  editor  of  a  paper 
published  in  the  institute  at  which  he  was  a  student,  and  while 
pursuing  his  law  studies  in  New  York  his  political  writings  and 
literary  criticisms  not  only  contributed  to  his  support  but  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  leading  politicians  and  men  of  letters  in  that 
city. 

Few,  if  any,  men  of  his  years  had  written  so  much  for  the  press 
as  had  Mr.  ALLEN  before  he  came  to  this  city.  He  was  here 
caught  in  that  excitement  and  whirl  of  politics  which  ushered  in 
and  distracted  to  the  end  the  administration  of  Mr.  Van  Buren. 
He  plunged  at  once  into  the  fight,  and  forgot  New  Orleans.  Es 
pousing  the  side  of  the  Conservatives  of  that  day,  he  sent  back  to 
the  New  York  press  such  sharp  criticisms  of  men  and  measures, 
and  such  able  discusssions  of  the  issues  then  just  beginning  to 
divide  the  Democratic  party,  that  he  was  at  once  recognized  as  no 
mean  force  in  the  approaching  struggle.  In  August  of  that  year, 
a  month  before  the  extra  session  called  by  Mr.  Van  Buren,  in  the 
midst  of  a  political  hurricane,  the  Madisonian  newspaper  was  es 
tablished  by  the  Conservatives  as  a  rival  of  the  Globe,  and  as  the 
organ  of  tliat  wing  of  the  Democratic  party  which  refused  to  follow 
Mr.  Van  Buren  in  the  new  financial  policy  that  ultimately  wrecked 
his  administration. 

This  young  man,  with  no  other  capital  than  his  brain,  and  with 
no  weapon  but  his  pen,  was  called  to  the  editorship  and  manage 
ment  of  that  paper,  and  compelled  to  meet  in  political  controversy 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.       43 

and  conflict  the  Globe,  then  edited  by  the  elder  Blair,  the  ablest 
political  editor  of  his  time,  and  the  National  Intelligencer,  under 
the  management  of  those  veterans  of  the  press,  Gales  and  Seaton. 

At  the  opening  of  Congress  Mr.  ALLEN,  then  only  twenty-three 
years  of  age,  was  elected  by  the  House  of  Representatives  Public 
Printer,  and  two  years  later  he  was  elected  to  the  same  office  by 
the  Senate,  each  branch  of  Congress  at  that  time  choosing  its  own 
printer. 

The  office  was  one  of  great  political  power  and  influence.  The 
disbursements  and  responsibilities  of  Public  Printer  in  those  days 
were  very  great,  and  few  came  out  of  the  office  unstained.  Mr. 
ALLEN  was  one  of  the  few.  Our  history  furnishes  no  parallel  to 
this  bestowal  by  the  House  of  Representatives  and  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States  successively  of  such  power  and  responsibility 
upon  one  so  young.  Here  he  remained  doing  extraordinary  work 
with  extraordinary  success  for  nine  years.  With  a  spotless  name 
and  a  fame  already  established,  at  thirty -two  he  left  Washington 
for  Saint  Louis,  then  in  its  infancy,  to  commence  the  permanent 
work  of  his  life  amid  the  grand  possibilities  just  opening  up  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Mississippi. 

His  life  thus  far  had  been  one  of  preparation  and  training.  It 
was  a  New  England  product,  rounded  out  somewhat  by  unusual 
culture  and  contact  in  a  broader  field,  but  nevertheless  essentially 
the  tough  fiber,  the  stiff  will,  and  the  quick  wit,  elements  of  New 
England  character.  He  was  clear  of  sight,  persistent  in  purpose, 
and  firm  in  faith.  He  believed  that  a  dividing  line  separated  right 
from  wrong  in  all  the  affairs  of  men,  and  that  the  right  ever  and 
everywhere  was  better  than  the  wrong.  As  light  was  given  to 
discern  that  line,  it  was  followed  wherever  it  led.  Many  things 
distorted  the  vision,  but  nothing  ever  confounded  the  distinction  or 
tempted  him  to  barter  the  one  for  the  other.  New  England  does 
not  furnish  field  or  scope  enough  for  the  trained  faculties  and  wid 
ening  vision  of  all  her  children,  and  she  parts  with  them  to  grap 
ple  with  the  greater  opportunities  and  grander  conditions  of  West 
ern  life.  She  has  thus  made  large  contributions  from  her  wealth 
of  intellectual  and  will  force  to  the  tide  which  has  flown  in  through 


44  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

the  wide  gates  of  opportunity  and  promise  the  West  has  opened 
to  healthy  adventure  and  intelligent  enterprise.  She  has  not  re 
pined  at  her  consequent  impoverishment,  nor  envied  the  younger 
and  more  ardent  of  her  sisters  the  rich  endowment  brought  to  them 
by  this  espousal  of  the  vigor  and  burning  zeal  of  the  best  of  her 
sons. 

Mr.  ALLEN  was  among  the  most  amply  equipped  and  best 
trained  of  that  army  of  young  men  who  have,  for  the  last  forty 
years,  in  one  unbroken  column,  marched  out  from  New  England 
homes  and  institutions  and  pitched  their  tents,  aud,  unfolding  ban 
ners  woven  at  home,  have  planted  under  their  folds  great  States, 
builded  noble  institutions,  and  developed  wealth  and  power  not 
possible  to  those  who  remain  behind.  Saint  Louis  was  henceforth 
to  be  his  permanent  home,  and  the  State  of  his  adoption  was  there 
after  to  command  his  powers  and  to  stimulate  and  reward  his  am 
bition.  Missouri  was  forty  years  ago  more  like  a  sleeping  giant 
than  the  great  and  powerful  empire  into  which  she  has  since  de 
veloped,  richest  among  the  rich  in  all  mineral  wealth,  strongest 
among  the  strong  in  the  heart  and  nerve  and  confidence  of  more 
than  two  million  people,  with  a  commerce  of  national  importance 
and  a  railroad  system  of  continental  limitations. 

How  large  a  part  the  far-reaching  sagacity  and  the  broad  and 
catholic  comprehension  of  opportunities  and  possibilities  which  Mr. 
ALLEN  brought  to  that  State  at  a  most  fortunate  time  in  the  tide 
of  its  material  growth  and  development  have  borne  in  arousing 
this  giant  from  its  slumbers  and  arraying  it  in  the  panoply  of  its 
own  power  and  glory,  I  leave  to  the  justly  appreciative  and  more 
appropriate  utterances  of  its  own  Representatives  to  estimate. 

We  of  the  older  States  have  wondered  at  and  admired  the  mar 
velous  rapidity  with  which  this  great  State  has  marched  to  the 
commanding  position  to  which  its  wealth  of  resources  summons  it, 
and  we  of  Massachusetts  are  proud  of  the  agency  one  of  her  sons 
has  had  in  the  grand  result.  Next  to  the  founders  of  States  the 
greatest  characters  in  history  are  those  who  build  the  institutions, 
awaken  the  agencies,  aud  guide*  the  forces  which  make  States  great, 
powerful,  and  imperishable.  Such  a  place  in  history  will  those 
who  write  of  Missouri  assign  to  Mr.  ALLEN. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.  45 

But,  Mr.  President,  I  turn  from  this  too  attractive  page  in  his 
career  back  to  the  place  of  his  birth  and  the  home  of  his  fathers. 
How  his  love  for  it  increased  with  his  years!  How,  in  the  midst 
of  his  prosperity  and  affluence,  his  heart  and  hand  opened  with 
generous  appreciation  of  its  welfare!  Early  in  that  career  of  re 
markable  prosperity,  which  was  continued  to  the  end  of  his  life*, 
he  repurchased  from  strangers  the  place  of  his  birth  and  the  home 
of  his  fathers,  and  erected  there  an  elegant  and  enduring  mansion 
of  stone,  which  was  his  summer  home  for  thirty  years.  How  fit 
ting  that  his  remains,  now  that  his  work  here  is  finished,  should 
be  borne  by  Missourians  back  to  this  resting-place,  toward  which 
his  thoughts  and  heart  ever  turned,  and  be  deposited  by  them  be 
neath  the  roof  erected  by  him  over  the  spot  where  he  was  born  ! 

He  was  in  all  respects  a  true  Missouri  an,  and  was  thoroughly 
identified  with  the  interests  of  the  State  with  whose  fortunes  he 
had  cast  his  lot  for  life.  But  this  did  not  abate  one  jot  or  tittle  of 
his  love  for  the  home  of  his  nativity.  All  its  best  interests  were 
near  his  heart,  and  he  was  ever  ready  to  promote  its  highest  wel 
fare.  He  erected  close  by  the  place  of  his  birth  an  elegant  and 
costly  edifice  of  exquisite  taste  in  architecture  and  oTesign,  and 
donated  it  to  his  native  town  for  a  library,  free  to  all  its  people, 
and  a  museum  for  the  preservation  for  coming  generations  of 
works  of  art  and  historical  interest — optima  seculorum  in  seeula 
ten-are — an  enduring  monument  to  the  true  nobility  of  his  nature, 
and  to  the  clear-sighted  comprehension  of  lasting  results,  which 
o^uided  him  in  all  his  acts  of  beneficent  generosity  as  well  as  in  all 

f^>  <-> 

his  business  undertakings. 

Missouri  was  one  of  the  border  States  during  the  war  of  the 
rebellion,  and  suffered  terribly  from  the  conflict  and  dissensions 
which  divided  its  people,  and  arrayed  communities,  neighbor 
hoods,  and  households  in  bitter  feuds  and  bloody  warfare.  At  the 
outset  and  throughout  the  struggle  Mr.  ALLEX  was  a  Union  man 
to  the  core,  firm  in  his  faith,  and  unyielding  in  his  patriotism. 
His  large  influence,  his  /eal,  and  his  fervent  voice  contributed 
much  to  turn  the  doubtful  scale  on  the  side  of  the  Union  and  to 
keep  his  State  true  to  the  flas:  and  the  Constitution.  His  contri- 


46  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

butions  of  money  and  personal  effort  and  sacrifice  were  not  con 
fined  to  Missouri,  incalculable  as  were  their  value  in  determining 
the  ultimate  status  of  that  State  in  the  conflict.  They  Avere  also 
influential  in  his  native  State.  A  military  company  of  Pittsfield, 
organized  before  the  war  under  his  auspices  and  bearing  his  name, 
marched  out  of  town  at  the  first  call,  meeting  its  absent  com 
mander  on  the  way,  and,  taking  its  colors  from  Mr.  ALLEN'S  own 
hand  as  it  passed  through  New  York,  entered  Washington  among 
the  first  of  the  troops  that  reached  the  capital. 

The  recruiting  service,  the  Army  in  the  field,  and  the  hospital 
commanded  his  influence,  his  mind,  and  his  means  till  peace  was 
restored.  And  in  the  solution  of  the  many  difficult  and  compli 
cated  problems  which  at  the  close  of  the  war  confronted  the 
statesman  and  distressed  the  patriot,  his  influence  and  counsel 
were  ever  bent  to  such  an  adjustment  of  discordant  elements  that 
peace  born  of  the  eternal  and  unchangeable  principles  of  justice 
and  right  might  come  to  stay,  and  with  healing  in  its  wings  reha 
bilitate  the  Republic.  He  lived  long  enough  to  see  his  adopted 
State,  yield  to  such  counsel  and  to  early  enter  upon  the  enjoyment 
of  the  beneficent  results  which  are  the  compensatory  glory  of  the 
terrible  struggle  through  which,  as  through  fire,  this  people  has 
been  led. 

Mr.  ALLEN  lived  and  died  a  Democrat,  and  the  love  of  politics, 
of  which  he  had  a  taste  in  early  life,  never  abated  amid  the  absorb 
ing  demands  of  vast  and  varied  business  relations,  that  engrossed 
his  mind  and  taxed  his  strength  through  the  larger  part  of  his 
life. 

He  occasionally  held  offices  of  distinction  and  responsibility  in 
Missouri,  was  more  than  once  a  State  senator,  and  at  different 
times  was  brought  before  the  people  for  their  suffrages  as  Repre 
sentative  in  Congress;  but  the  claims  of  large  business  enterprises, 
reaching  out  into  other  States  and  ever  growing  upon  his  hands, 
still  unfinished,  were  long  too  strong  to  be  disregarded  and  too 
important  to  be  neglected.  It  was  only  recently  that  he  was  able 
to  relieve  himself  from  their  burdens  and  exactions  and  to  seek  in 
the  relaxations  of  leisure  and  the  delights  of  foreign  travel  re- 


LIVE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.  47 

newed  health  and  vigor.  The  electors  of  the  second  Congressional 
district  of  his  State  immediately  called  him  into  their  service,  and 
he  was  elected  by  a  large  majority,  in  November,  1880,  to  the 
Forty-seventh  Congress.  He  spent  the  interval  between  his  elec 
tion  and  the  assembling  of  Congress,  in  December,  1881,  in  seek 
ing  to  regain  his  shattered  health  by  rest  and  foreign  travel.  It 
was  a  vain  search. 

The  draft  upon  his  strength  had  been  continued  too  long  for 
recovery,  and  all  effort  to  regain  ground  lost  proved  unavailing. 
He  returned  from  an  extensive  tour  in  Northern  Europe  in  No 
vember  last  only  to  realize  that  his  work  was  over.  The  fatal 
disease  had  already  so  far  advanced  that  he  was  unable  to  reach 
Missouri  and  again  meet  his  constituents.  He  turned  with  long 
ing  to  his  Massachusetts  home,  and  came  to  it  for  the  last  time 
feeling  with  the  poet — 

Where'er  I  roam,  whatever  realms  to  see, 
My  heart,  untraveled,  fondly  turns  to  thee. 

He  came  to  Washington  and  took  his  seat  on  the  first  day  of 
the  session,  all  too  weak  for  the  effort,  but  was  unable  to  appear 
in  the  House  more  than  once  or  twice  afterward.  The  fatal  result 
became  early  apparent  to  him,  and  he  awaited  it  long,  upon  a  bed 
of  great  pain  and  anguish,  with  patience  and  calmness.  It  was  a 
disappointment  to  him  not  to  be  permitted  to  discharge  the  public 
trust  which  had  been  committed  to  him.  Among  his  last  words 
were  :  "  I  would  like  to  live  a  few  years  longer.  There  are  some 
things  I  would  like  to  do  for  Missouri."  But  it  was  ordered 
otherwise.  He  was  bidden  to  lay  off  the  harness,  and  he  obeyed 
the  command  in  the  inspiring  faith  that  it  was  but  a  summons  to 
a  higher  life  and  a  nobler  work.  This  command  came  to  him  on 
the  morning  of  the  8th  of  April  last. 

Thus  ended  a  life  which,  by  whatever  standard  man  may  meas 
ure  it,  fell  little  short  of  life's  great  end.  It  was  a  busy  life,  leav 
ing  no  known  duty  undischarged,  no  known  wrong  unrighted; 
full  of  amenities  and  sympathies,  hopes,  and  aspirations.  It  en 
countered  all  life's  antagonisms  and  conflicts  with  wisdom  and 


48  LJFK  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

courage,  meeting  all  its  responsibilities  and  shrinking  from  none 
of  its  burdens.  He  lived  ever  true  to  the  motto  handed  down  to 
him  by  his  fathers,  Fortiter  geret  crucem,  and  died  in  the  Christ 
ian's  faith  that  beyond  tin's  life  there  awaited  him  an  immortal 
crown. 


Address  of  Mr.  BROWN,  of  Georgia. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  I  have  been  informed  by  some  of  the  friends 
in  this  body  of  Mr.  ALLEN,  the  deceased,  that  it  would  be  agreeable 
to  them  for  me  to  submit  some  remarks  on  this  occasion.  If  the 
condition  of  my  health  had  permitted  I  should  have  availed  my 
self,  with  great  pleasure,  of  this  opportunity  to  attempt  to  pay  a 
just  and  appropriate  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  whose 
death  we  all  mourn  as  a  public  calamity.  But  such  is  the  condi 
tion  of  my  throat  that  I  must  not  at  present  attempt  to  speak  at 
any  length  on  any  subject.  Before  I  take  my  seat,  however,  I  feel 
it  my  duty  to  remark  that  I  had  a  very  pleasant  acquaintance  with 
Mr.  ALLEN  for  a  number  of  years,  mostly  as  a  railroad  man,  in 
connection  with  important  railroad  interests.  He  spent  much  of 
the  more  active  portion  of  his  life  as  such  manager  on  a  large  scale, 
conducting  some  of  the  most  important  and  extensive  enterprises 
of  the  country.  And  I  take  great  pleasure  in  testifying  that  in 
the  line  of  his  profession  he  had  few  equals.  His  business  tact, 
quick  perception,  keen  penetration,  and  executive  capacity  were 
remarkable. 

Mr.  ALLEN  was  always  courteous,  kind,  and  considerate  of  the 
feelings  and  wishes  of  others.  In  social  life  he  was  a  general 
favorite.  He  leaves  a  most  interesting  family  to  mourn  their 
irreparable  loss;  but  he  leaves  them  the  rich  legacy  of  an  irre 
proachable  character,  and  the  bright  example  of  his  useful  life  as 
a  safe  guide  for  their  future  conduct.  But,  Mr.  President,  I  must 
leave  it  to  others  more  able  and  eloquent,  who  are  in  better  condi 
tion,  to  do  full  justice  to  the  life,  services,  and  memory  of  the  dis 
tinguished  dead. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.  49 


Address  of  Mr.  VEST,  of  Missouri. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  New  England  has  sent  many  of  her  sons  to 
wealth  and  honor  in  the  West,  but  her  energy,  courage,  steadfast 
ness  of  purpose,  and  intellect  have  never  been  more  fully  illus 
trated  than  in  the  life  and  characteristics  of  THOMAS  ALLEN. 
The  story  of  his  life  is  peculiarly  American,  and  marked  with  all 
the  salient  points  of  our  pushing,  aggressive  civilization. 

When  nineteen  years  old  young  ALLEN  left  his  home  at  Pitts- 
field,  Mass.,  with  $2.~>  as  his  patrimony,  a  sound  constitution,  an 
honest  name,  and  a  collegiate  education  to  enter  the  arena  where 
so  many  fall  wounded  and  vanquished  and  so  few  are  crowned 
with  the  laurel  wreath.  Not  for  an  instant  was  there  any  question 
of  his  success,  for,  besides  health,  talent,  and  education,  the  young 
adventurer  had  those  priceless  jewels,  self-control  and  systematic 
labor. 

For  three  years  Mr.  ALLEN  read  law  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
but  soon  became  engaged  in  journalism,  for  which  pursuit  he  had 
decided  taste  and  talent.  In  1837  lie  established  in  this  city  a 
paper  known  as  the  Madisonian,  and  while  engaged  in  its  publica 
tion  was  elected  Printer  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and  then 
of  the  Senate.  In  1842  he  removed  to  Saint  Louis,  and  there 
entered  upon  the  eventful  career  which  has  bound  up  his  history 
for  all  time  with  that  of  the  State  to  whose  welfare  and  greatness 
he  contributed  so  much.  His  broad,  comprehensive,  active  mind 
seized  at  once  the  necessities  of  the  vast  region  west  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  then  just  beginning  to  pulsate  with  a  new  life,  and  he  de 
voted  himself  to  railway  transportation.  In  18o()  he  'became 
president  of  the  Missouri  Pacific  Railroad,  now  extending  across 
the  entire  State  from  east  to  west,  and  brought  the  first  locomotive 
to  the  western  shore  of  the  great  river.  In  the  same  year  Mr. 
ALLKX  was  elected  to  the  State  senate,  and  there  he  originated  and 
organized  the  system  of  railways  now  reaching  every  portion  of 
Missouri.  Subsequently  he  built  the  Saint  Louis,  Iron  Mountain 
4AL 


50  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN. 

and  Southern  Railroad  from  Saint  Louis  to  Texarkaua,  bindiiig 
together  the  two  great  empires  of  Missouri  and  Texas. 

Mr.  ALLEN  was  elected  to  the  Forty-seventh  Congress  from 
the  second  district  of  Missouri,  bin  his  physical  condition  prevented 
his  active  participation  in  the  public  business. 

Such  is  the  brief  resume  of  a  singularly  active  and  useful  life 
devoted  to  the  best  interests  of  men  and  not  to  self-indulgence. 
Of  such  lives  it  has  been  well  said  : 

The  seeds  of  good  they  sow  are  sacred  seeds, 
And  bear  their  righteous  fruits  for  general  weal, 
When  sleeps  the  husbandman. 

Essentially  a  man  of  business,  and  the  possessor  of  large  wealth, 
Mr.  ALLEN  never  hoarded  money,  or  regarded  it  but  as  the  in 
strument  for  great  and  beneficent  purposes.  His  personal  habits 
were  simple,  almost  to  austerity,  while  to  public  objects  and  enter 
prises  he  gave  with  princely  liberality.  Nor  did  the  pursuit  of 
wealth  or  his  practical  life  harden  his  nature,  or  cause  him  to  for 
get  his  alma  mater  and  the  classic  tastes  of  his  youth.  He  was 
the  first  president  of  the  University  Club  of  Saint  Louis,  whose 
membership  embraces  the  literary  culture  of  that  city,  and  he  was 
annually  re-elected,  filling  the  position  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

Of  education,  whose  magic  wand  can  alone  exorcise 

These  twin  gaolers  of  the  human  heart, 
Low  birth  and  iron  fortune, 

he  was  the  earnest  advocate.  To  literature,  science,  and  the  arts, 
advance  and  improvement  in  all  that  elevates  mankind,  his  time 
and  fortune  were  freely  given. 

And  so,  another  earnest,  active  intellect  is  stilled,  another  toil 
ing  life  is  ended.  Helpless  we  stand  at  its  close,  and  with  feeble 
imperfect  words  attempt  to  tell  the  story  of  the  years  of  labor, 
ambition,  success,  misfortune,  joy,  and  sorrow  which  checkered 
this  long  and  eventful  career.  All  that  we  know  certainly  is  that 
it  has  ended,  and  that  our  friend  has  at  last  laid  down  his  burden. 
For  the  rest,  faith  and  hope ! 

The  Hindoo  maiden,  whose  lover  or  relative   has  gone  upon  a 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THOMAS  ALLEN.  51 

long  or  dangerous  journey,  as  the  shades  of  evening  fall,  places 
upon  the  bosom  of  the  Ganges  an  earthen  vessel,  wreathed  with 
flowers,  containing  a  lighted  taper,  and  watches  its  progress  down 
the  stream,  believing  that  its  fate  is  typical  of  that  of  the  absent 
loved  one.  For  many  long  and  sad  months  those  who  loved  him 
watched  the  feeble  light  of  the  life  now  ended,  as  it  floated  away 
upon  the  river  of  time.  It  can  be  seen  by  mortal  eyes  no  longer. 
But  may.  we  not  hope  that  upon- the  great  ocean  of  eternity  it  has 
burst  into  noontide  splendor ! 

Missouri  thus  reverently  closes  the  last  page  of  the  life's  history 
of  her  beloved  son,  her  honored  Representative,  her  most  illustri 
ous  citizen. 

I  move  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions. 

The  resolutions  were  adopted  unanimously  ;  and  the  Senate  ad 
journed. 

O 


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